Alright, so, like last time said, time for Firecracker to start training to actually join the KND! Let's begin!

"How am I sweating!? I'm freezing my butt off!" Firecracker asked no one in particular. Much like Beau had promised, Firecracker had been allowed to begin training to become an operative of the Kids Next Door. Apparently, they'd been keeping an eye on her ever since she scared the teenagers off that one time. She took to training with gusto, even with how fittingly cold the Arctic Base ended up being. Still, a little cold wasn't something that was gonna stop Firecracker from being a hero.

"Do you think you can make sweaticles?" One boy asked as he eagerly began to look over Firecracker.

"That's so gross!" Cree protested.

"Yeah!" Firecracker agreed as she tried to wipe herself off, even if she knew most of the sweat was coming from under the layers of winter gear she'd been wearing.

"Listen up cadets!" The drill sergeant, a harsh operative who went by Numbuh 1917, called out, causing everyone to snap to attention. "You all did well in the drills, but you are not free to go to lunch yet!" This got groaning, but Numbuh 1917 was not one to back down. "Silence! This time, you'll all be working alone! There will be a hallway and an adult villain for you to defeat! You can do this by any means necessary!" He then scanned the group. "Firecracker! You first!"

Firecracker smirked. "Bring it on!" Firecracker's cockiness was not unwarranted. She had been one of the top performers throughout training, rivaled only by Cree. The only real problem she had was that she didn't work well with a team. While she had no issues working with others, it was clear to everyone that she preferred working alone. So a challenge that forced her to work alone was pretty much an easy road to more praise.

"Follow me," Numbuh 1917 ordered. Firecracker did as she was told. She looked back towards the other cadets. Cree gave her a smile and a thumbs up. Firecracker just waved as she was led into the starting room. Dozens of pieces of 2x4 technology lined the wall. Firecracker smirked as she grabbed a 2x4 sniper rifle and adjusted her backpack, still loaded with her personal fireworks.

"You sure you don't want one of the 2x4 explosives?" Numbuh 1917 asked.

"I like my own more," Firecracker simply said. Numbuh 1917 just smirked. He didn't blame her. Firecracker's explosives were extremely impressive. With a nod, Firecracker headed into the test hallway and began looking at what was in front of her. The "adult villain" was just a robot, but Firecracker had a feeling it was on a high setting. Luckily, it hadn't seen her yet, so Firecracker had a chance to jump behind a pillar, letting her hide and plan out a course of attack.

"Lemme see what I've got…" Firecracker began to look through her bag. Several fireworks, a roll of duct tape, some explosives made out of golf balls, and her newly made firecracker gloves. Glancing back at the robot, Firecracker decided to forgo the gloves. Sure, she'd been enjoying using them, but they were still somewhat finicky and Firecracker's knuckles still had quite a few burns on them. Nothing serious, but she still didn't want to make it worse. So, after a second scan of the room, Firecracker began to put her quickly created plan into action. Slowly, she attached a firework to the front of the sniper rifle. Once that was done, she tossed several of the golf balls forward.

"Who. Is. Th-" The robot began to ask, only to get cut off by Firecracker blasting the firework at the golf balls, which had scattered at the robot's feet. This caused a domino effect that soon resulted in a massive explosion. Firecracker, who had taken the time to run to the other side of the room as fast as her tiny legs could carry her, took in the sight with a look of awe.

"Pretty…" She gushed. Once things died down, all that was left of the robot was a thoroughly charred exoskeleton. With that, she cockily turned to leave. Numbuh 1917 was waiting for her on the other side.

"Well done," He said with a nod. "Go get lunch. You've earned it." With a smirk, Firecracker moved to head off. "I'm gonna need the sniper rifle back."

"Sorry…" Firecracker sheepishly replied as she handed in back before just as sheepishly making her leave, all previously bravo now seemingly gone.

"So you blew it up?" Cree clarified. After each cadet ran their test, they were all sent to join Firecracker in the mess hall. And, rather predictably, all of them were eager to hear how the others did in their tests.

"Yeah. Got to use my own bombs too!" Firecracker replied proudly. "The explosion was so cool too! It was like a bunch of flaming clouds all on top of each other." Cree just nodded at that. She didn't fully get her newfound friend's love of explosives, but as long as it made her happy, then Cree didn't fully mind. "How'd you beat that robot, anyways?"

"Kicked its metal butt!" Cree proudly declared. "How come you didn't do that?"

"My fists still hurt from those gloves I'm trying to make," Firecracker reminded her friend, even pulling said gloves out.

"Well I bet you can get them to work," Cree assured the other girl, who smiled.

"Thanks." Firecracker said. "So where do you think you're gonna end up when training is over? And we get to actually join the Kids Next Door and go on super cool missions."

"I wanna do what my brother did and join Sector V," Cree replied. "He always made it sound so cool! And then I'd get to go on all kinds of missions! How about you?"

"Don't know. It all seems so cool!" Firecracker admitted as she tossed another chicken nugget in her mouth. "Numbuh 1917 said I'll probably get sent to the deep sea lab to work on more bombs and stuff, but I also wanna be a spy! Like I'd get to sneak into bases and sabotage them!"

"But no one would be able to tell it was you!" Cree protested.

"No. No adults would know it was me! Every kid's gonna know who Firecracker Baros is!" Firecracker proudly boasted. "Or…I guess they're gonna know who…whatever Numbuh I pick is. But that's still me so it still counts!"

"Everyone's gonna know both of us!" Cree agreed.

"Yeah. They're gonna know both of us. And we're gonna be the bestest operatives ever," Firecracker said with a smile. Cree smiled back. Firecracker liked it when Cree smiled. It gave her a warm feeling. And she hoped that she and Cree would stay bestest friends forever.

The irony hurts. It really does. But we're not getting into tragedy yet.