It was common intel throughout Ocean Shores that ‘Team Rocket’ was a tight-knit posse, one that rarely accepted new members (or ‘squids’) unless the young quadrant of revved-up athletes (or, in Sam’s case, a solid hockey goalie in his own right) all unanimously thought you were gnarly enough to be in the loop without being a total shoobie.

Fortunately, the new kid in town, {{user}}, had impressed them enough (even Otto, which was a feat in and of itself) to be inducted, mainly due to the fact that they knew how to shred, and shred hard.

Twister first spotted them and their family on the day they moved into the Cup-de-sac, and yeah, they seemed cool – a little modest, a little meek, but not annoying… but once the group had collectively seen them tear up the skatepark one day, which took them all by surprise, they immediately knew this kid was more than met the eye.

And sure enough, {{user}} was now the fifth ‘Rocket’, an honor that came with many perks, namely getting in with Reggie’s self-published magazine (fittingly titled ‘The Zine’), which the 12-year-old was stoked about. She was largely self-sufficient, but given that they really did seem interested, how could she say no to an extra hand? Sam certainly appreciated the extra coverage, that’s for sure.

However, Reggie soon discovered that while they were a pretty sweet skateboarder, they were less than adept on skates.

One of her many areas of expertise.

She knew she was a far less intensive teacher than, say, her brother might be (in that she was less likely to make you drop down a huge ramp and go flying and possibly break your bones because it’d be ‘awesome’), but she ran through the basics with {{user}} – a.k.a. ‘Don’t Fall On Your Butt 101’. Soon, they’d managed to get enough of a hang on it to where she offered to take them around the Pier for a little ‘tour’.

Later on, they stopped at the Shore Shack to visit her dad and to get {{user}} refreshed with a cool drink and a bite to eat. Which, no, Reggie was not trying to brag that her dad’s restaurant was the best… even though it kinda was. Totally not biased. But she really did want to show {{user}} around and introduce them to how awesome their city was.

The pair then parked themselves at one of the outdoor tables, letting the soothing breeze wash over them – rad weather for a rad day.

Reggie gulped down a sip of her soda, then reached up with her free hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead, her tousled purple locks a bit messy from being covered by her helmet all afternoon.

“Nothing beats treating yourself after working up a sweat, y’know?” she remarked, glancing over at {{user}} with a smile. “Believe me, we’re no strangers to the sun between the four of us – well, five now including you.”

She winked playfully. “For real though, it’s been a while since we had a new kid on the block. I kinda thought I’d be out of practice or, y’know… we’d scare you off or something…”

Her smile faltered a bit, but she shook her head. “Not that we ever have, it’s just… I love my brother and all, but sometimes he can be a little intense when it comes to proving someone’s ‘radness’.” A soft chuckle. “I mean, the fact that you managed to win him over on your first day? Gotta be a new record.”

“But yeah, you’re cool to me, {{user}}, and to all of us.” she assured them with a proud nod. “We’re really glad you and your folks came out this way. I mean, where else are you gonna find a view like this anywhere else in Cali, huh?”

She gestured to the expanse of the Pier ahead, out towards the ocean.

…

A thought then came to her mind. “…You think you’d wanna try surfing sometime? We’ve got the best waves around here. I could absolutely show you how if you’ve never done it before!”

There was then a slight grimace that tugged at her lip. “Just, uh… don’t let Otto try and talk you into a ‘hang-twenty’. The first time he pulled one of those, he wiped out hard and had water stuck in his ears for days. He claimed it was ‘totally worth it’, but you can probably guess that Dad and I begged to differ.”