Wow, I know it's been a long time since I've updated this story, and I'm very sorry for it. I know I've lost readers for that reason, but I felt like going back to this regardless of that. Funny how the main ones I was writing this for, are "grown" now. lol Teenagers and all that now.

Anywho, I've actually been rewriting the previous chapters, and if you want, you can go back and read those. I corrected mistakes that I had in the previous chapters, cut some stuff out that I'd always meant to cut out, and added in stuff that I'd always wanted to include (such as Roderick using a nickname for Mackenzie). The original reason why I stopped with this fic was because of work and a partial writer's block, mostly on Roderick's part. I was having a tough time coming up with a solution to his problem, but I'm pretty much cool with that now since I just sat down and thought about it.

Now, for this chapter, as the title suggests, Sam and Sherry confront Reggie and Twister, but are surprised at what they find, naturally. Nothing much I can say beyond that, though. This chapter mostly focuses on Sam and Twister though, not so much on Sherry and Reggie, which you'll definitely see, and I hope you don't mind it.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Mackenzie "Mac" Duncan: 12

Chapter 18: "What happened to you?" The Sleuthing Duo, Dullard & Chin!

Sam and Sherry finished up their smoothies, and started towards the Rocket and Rodriguez homes. Sherry suggested that the pair of them should confront each of them together as opposed to both of them doing so separately. When trying Twister's place, they didn't get an answer.

"Maybe Rod and Twist went up to the Pier," the stout blonde goalie pointed out.

With no luck there, they headed over to the Rocket home. Sam rang the bell…

Twister and Reggie were watching movies, when they heard the bell ring…

"I wonder who that is," Reggie queried.

"Maybe it's Raymundo."

Reggie laughed. "Why would he used the doorbell when he has a key?"

"Oh yeah…"

The wavy-haired girl stopped laughing abruptly.

"Yo, Reg, what's wrong?"

"I can't answer the door looking like this!"

"I'll answer it."

"What about your eye?"

"Who hasn't seen me with one? Lars is my brother," he laughed.

The two heard the bell chime again, and Twister hurried himself to the door. "Whoa, Sammy, Sherry."

"Twist, like, what happened to you? Your eye looks mondo gross!"

"Oh no," Sam shuddered, "did you get whomped by Lars?"

"Don't worry about it, you guys. What's up?"

"Sammy and I were looking for you and Reggie."

"Is Reggie here?"

"W-well, …um…y-yeah," he answered nervously. "We were watching movies."

"Cool!"

Sherry forced her way in with Sam right behind her, who shut the door. Twister didn't know what to do, so he stepped in front of the pair. "R-Reggie isn't feeling well."

"But you just said that the two of you were watching movies," Sam reminded him.

"N-no. What I meant w-was-was…"

"Forget it Twist! Like, you've never been good at lying." The girl stepped up to the tall, freckly-faced boy, and gave him a fierce, threatening look. "Like, what's wrong with Reggie?"

"Well, she, I, we…um-"

"I'm fine, Sherry," a voice interrupted.

They saw Reggie walk up behind the flabbergasted Twister, bruise and all. Sherry gasped at the sight and rushed over towards her. "Reggie, like, what happened?"

"You look pretty bad, Rocket Girl."

"Thank you Sammy," Reggie dryly commented.

"S-sorry," he bashfully apologized.

"It's cool."

"I'm sorry too, Reg."

"It's okay, Twist," she smiled as best she could, "thanks for trying."

"Twister, Reggie…like what's going on?"

"I was embarrassed to be seen with this bruise, and Twister was just trying to cover for me."

"How'd you get that bruise?" asked Sam.

"W-well, I…ugh…fell…when out on the pipe this morning."

"Is that all?" Reggie nodded. "Like, that's nothing. Some ice and makeup can fix that up!"

Sherry grabbed Reggie's hand, and headed up the stairs, while giving Sam a quick wink. Sam made his way towards the living room with Twister trailing behind. The blond plopped down on the couch, his mind still on Reggie's bruise.

"So, Squid, what's up?"

"You asked that already."

"I did?"

"Twister," Sam began direly, "what really happened to Reg?"

"What d'ya mean?"

"That bruise of hers. How did she really get it?"

"You heard her, she fell."

"You and I both know that's not true. We've known Reggie and Otto for years, and for Reggie to get a bruise like that, she'd have had to face plant majorly, and even then, the two always wear protective gear."

"What's your point, Squid," asked an exasperated Twister.

"My point is that she couldn't have gotten that bruise from a skateboard fall due to where it is, without any other part of her face being affected."

Twister's eyes grew sad and he frowned. He turned his head away from his shorter friend in turmoil. "Just drop it, Squid. If Reg said she fell, then we should believe her."

Sam studied Twister and shook his head. 'He knows something, I'm sure of it. Reggie must've sworn him to secrecy.' Realizing he wasn't getting anyplace, he decided to get off of the subject. "So, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded slowly. "Yo, Squid…I mean…um…Sammy…um…about yesterday…"

He gave him a friendly smile. "It's okay, Twist."

Twister sighed out in relief and put out his hand for their trademark handshake, which Sam returned, but still wished that it was the four of them again.

"So, um, Twist," he began cautiously, "how do you feel about Otto?"

His face grew distraught. "I don't want to talk about him right now," he softly replied.

"I know Otto misses you, just like I know you miss him! You, Otto, and Reg have been friends for too long to throw that all away now. Maybe you all should apologize for-"

"Apologize? After what he did to Reggie? He's the one who needs to apologize! You saw how hurt Reggie was!"

Before Sam could question him, Sherry and Reggie entered the room. Even though it wasn't often for the tomboyish girl to wear makeup, she did actually keep some around for those rare occasions where it might've come in handy or if she had to dress up for a function. Clio was the one who actually showed her which kind to get for her skin tone. Sherry had applied the make up for Reggie, but her face was still a little bit swollen in that particular area of her face, but it wasn't as dark anymore.

"Reggie still doesn't want to go out, and that's like a total bummer. Trish and the others were going to hang up at the Pier later on this afternoon, too."

"I don't mind staying in today, Sher."

"Still a bummer, though, especially since it's, like, so nice out today. Anyway, let's, like, go, Sammy. Twister, you better, like, take care of Reggie too!"

"R-right. No prob, Sherry."

With that, Reggie and Twister waved the two off, as they exited the Rocket home…