Here's another story I posted on the RS proboards for a competition… Yeah, I'm known as "bigmike" over there… Anyways, pretty sure I won't win, but thought I would get y'all's input…

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure I do not own any of the characters… (Who knows, maybe I do)

Another Competition Missed

"Go… Mad Dogs, Go, Go, Mad Dogs, Go… Mad Dogs, Go, Go, Mad Dogs!"

The entire cheer squad was pumped for the new cheer competition that they had been invited to at Upperton U. It was meant to take the place of the non-existent one that the team had been duped into before by the mutant Gill.

"OK people! Save it for the competition!" Mr. Barkin yelled towards the back of the bus loud enough for everyone to hear. He only took his eyes off the road for a few seconds to try and get everyone to calm down, but it was long enough for him to miss the turn that that were supposed to take them to the new gymnasium. The competition was supposed to be part of the grand opening ceremonies.

Some mysteries in life really are not meant to be answered, and some things really should not have ever happened, but they do. The Titanic should have turned around, but it didn't. The Hindenburg should have never been filled with helium, but it was. Ron Stoppable should have never been handed a road map, but Mr. Barkin did.

After about an hour more of driving, Mr. Barkin knew that something was not right. By all accounts, they should have arrived at the new gymnasium 15 minutes ago. He turned sideways so he could keep one eye on the road, and see the blonde kid sitting right behind him.

"Stoppable… are you sure we were supposed to turn right back there?"

"I believe so Mr. Barkin. I mean, this red line here splits off, and becomes a solid black line. Then that solid black line becomes a series of dashes. According to this, we should be coming up to the new gymnasium right around… this next…"

Mr. Barkin chanced a look at Ron, and then looked back at the road with a worried look on his face. What was I thinking making Stoppable the co-pilot?

The old black-top road suddenly made a right turn at the end of a row of trees, and…

"… turn." Ron finished his sentence, pointing out the front window of the bus, confident that he would be pointing at a brand new gymnasium. Instead, the headlights of the bus landed on a large yellow sign that said "Dead End". To make matters worse, right after Mr. Barkin stopped the bus, the engine sputtered a bit, and finally shut off completely. It wasn't until then that Steve Barkin looked at the gas gauge. The needle was PAST the E mark.

"Stoppable! What have you done, man?" Mr Barkin was now standing right beside the cowering blonde boy, and the entire bus went quiet as all the cheerleaders were now looking at Mr. Barkin.

"What has the loser done now Mr. B.?" Bonnie said sounding a bit miffed.

"Do you not know how to read a map?" He said, tapping the unfolded piece of paper that Ron was holding.

"Kim and I read Topo maps all the time Mr. B.!" Kim slid down behind a seat when Ron mentioned her name.

"But his is not a topographical map Stoppable!"

"Uhh, Mr. Barkin? Sir?" Tara said in a feeble voice as she shyly raised her hand.

"What?" Tara cringed at his outburst.

"Can't we just turn around… sir?"

" I would if we could, but because of the lack of map reading skills here of Stoppable, we have gone way off course. As a result, we have RUN OUT OF GAS!"

A collective gasp rose from the entire cheer squad. Kim just sunk further down behind the seat. "Ladies, cell phones." Bonnie suddenly said.

In a flash, every single cheerleader whipped a phone out, and turned it on. A cacophony of different types of beeping filled the bus, and everyone spoke at once. "No Service?"

This new sitch caused Kim to suddenly pop back up onto the seat, whipped out her Kimmunicator, and keyed Wade. It fuzzed for a bit, and a picture of Wade tried to coalesce on the screen. He was trying to speak, but only parts of his sentence were heard.

"Kim … are…? The signal … terrible … be a dead spot. I'll … to realign … …tellite. I'll … to … you back … …bit. …old on." The screen then went to snow, and Kim pushed the button to disconnect.

"No luck Mr. Barkin." All eyes had been on Kim as she was trying to listen to Wade. "Sounds like we're in some kind of dead spot that is not covered by any communication satellites. Wade is going to try to realign them. Something tells me we are going to be here for a while."

"And whose fault is that, K?" Bonnie said with venom in her voice. "You're loser boyfriend has just caused us to forfeit ANOTHER competition!"

"The fact that Ron can't read a road map doesn't make him a LOSER!" The two rivals were now nose to nose in the center of the bus, and it looked as if one of them was about to swing a fist. Before either could make a move, Tara pulled Bonnie back a bit, and Kim felt a hand land on her shoulder. She looked behind her to see who was holding her back. "Marcella?"

"People!" Mr. Barkin's voice boomed, bringing everyone to a stand still. "… and I use that term loosely… This is not the time for us to lose our heads! Yes we have a situation, but we will get through it. This Wade friend of Possible's is going to try and restore communications for us, so we may as well wait and see what happens. In the mean time, we may as well try to get comfortable.

"Now, first order of business. Did anyone bring any kind of food, or anything to drink?"

Everyone dug into their respective duffel bags and luggage, and a pile of various items began to pile up in the middle of the bus. Energy drinks, bottles of water, raisins, granola bars, fruit cups, and a… Bueno Nacho bag? Everyone gave Ron a funny look as he dropped the over-stuffed bag into the pile.

"Hey… It's better than all that health junk all you guys eat."

"Well, this looks like a pretty good haul." Mr. Barkin said. "At least we won't go hungry or thirsty. It won't be that cold tonight, so we won't need to worry about warmth."

"Ummm, Mr. Barkin?" Tara asked with her slight voice again, her hand raised.

"Yes, Ms. Strong?"

"Ummm… where are we supposed to… you know…"

"There are plenty of trees outside. Pick one." His eyes narrowed at the platinum blonde.

"That's good enough for you and Ron, but what about the rest of us?" Kim said with irritation in her voice. Mr. Barkin began to rub the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on.

"There's emergency equipment in the storage compartments on the side of the bus, aren't there?" Kim asked.

"Yes, Possible. Good thinking. Stoppable! Go get a shovel from one of those kits and dig a latrine for everyone."

"Aww Mann! Why me, Mr. B.?" Ron couldn't believe this was happening. This trip Tanks!

Ron found the shovel in the first compartment he opened, trudged out into a nearby stand of trees, and began digging while Mr. Barkin and the girls inventoried the food and drinks that had been accumulated.

While Ron dug, he began singing to himself.

"In the year 25, 25…" His shovel hit the dirt, and he threw it over his shoulder.

"If man is still alive…" He threw another shovel full of dirt over his shoulder.

Ron continued to sing to himself, and in no time he was almost finished. Suddenly a distinctive female voice sounded behind him.

"Be sure to make my end deep, soldier."

Sweaty, dirty, and hungry, Ron looked up from the fairly large hole he was now standing in, and saw a couple of very shapely legs. Kneeling in the hole he had dug, Ron's eyes were about even with her shins, and they moved upwards ever so slowly. Right before they were about to look where no male eyes had looked before, two hands pushed the cheerleader outfit down to cover his intended target. He continued to look up the rest of her shapely body, and his eyes finally landed on her face.

It was dark now, but a full moon was casting enough light through the trees so he could match the face to the voice he had heard. "He he… Hey Kim!"

"That's a pretty good hole, but how do you expect us to use it?"

Ron stood up, jumped out of the hole, and placed a foot on each side. It was basically a small trench about a foot and a half wide, 4-foot long, and about 3 feet deep. He squatted slightly, and looked at the redhead.

"Not bad, Ron. It should work. Although Bonnie probably won't like it."

"Anyone bring TP, KP?" Kim gave him a slightly annoyed look.

"I've got some in an emergency mission pack that I brought. There should be enough for everyone if we ration it out." Ron grimaced.

"Ewww… I'd hate to be the last one to have to go."

"Maybe some of the other girls brought some too." Kim said hopefully.

Kim and Ron went back to the bus, and the entire squad had a small meal and something to drink. There was even some food and water left over after everyone was full. Ron had been a gentleman and didn't eat more than he needed.

A few of the girls used Ron's latrine, and threw some dirt in with the shovel after they were done. It actually worked pretty well, and Mr. Barkin let Ron know that he was proud of him.

"You'd make a fine Private in the Army, Stoppable." Ron had no idea how to respond to that statement.

Just as everyone was relaxing, and just making idle chit chat with each other, a familiar chime sounded.

Beep Beep Be Deep

Kim pulled out her Kimmunicator, and answered. "Wade! You got the satellites to work!"

"Just temporarily. I've got your position triangulated though, and a police helicopter should be there in the morning with gas for the bus. It should be enough to get you guys home."

"Thanks Wade, you rock!"

"Ummm, Kim? Just don't tell Ron where you guys actually are." Wade had a look of worry on his face.

"What's up Wade, where are we?" Kim's curiosity was getting the better of her, and she didn't notice that someone had stepped up behind her just off to one side.

"Kim, you're on the back-side of Lake Wanna…" The picture and sound suddenly fuzzed out as the temporary fix that Wade had conjured up finally gave out. Kim heard an 'eep', and a thud behind her. She turned around and saw Ron, passed out on the seat beside her.

"Squeeb… Hey, Squeeb! Wake up!" Ron groggily opened his eyes, and standing there in front of him was a sight he really did not want to see. There was Gill, but he was dressed in a cheerleader's outfit! Not one of guy ones, but he had on the top and skirt from one of the girl's outfits!

"G… Gill? What are you..?" Gill's slimy lips pursed, and his eyes half closed. He started to lean down towards Ron to kiss him…

Suddenly Ron was all wet, and he started to strike out! Keeping his eyes closed tightly, Ron backed away from where the wetness had come from, and curled into a ball against the cold metal of the side of the bus. Ron screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Get away from me Gill! I don't like you that way!" A hand landed on his shoulder, and he flinched hard, his eyes flying open. The morning sun was bright, and he had to blink a few times to focus on the person next to him.

"K… Kim?"

"Are you OK Ron?" She asked, her face full of concern for her boyfriend.

"Oh Kim, it was… awful! It was Gill… but it wasn't Gill!" He began to shudder from the realization of his dream.

"It's OK baby, it's OK. It was just a dream." Kim gently lay Ron down on the seat, his head in her lap. Ron started to calm down a little, and he unconsciously put his thumb in his mouth.

The Middleton School bus continued to zip along the highway after being filled with gas from the Police helicopter. Way in the back of the bus in the corner, Kim continued to calm her freaked out boyfriend by gently running her fingers through his hair. She looked up to see if Mr. Barkin was watching. He was looking at the road intently, following the directions that the Police had given him. She leaned over and gently kissed Ron on the forehead.

"You're OK now Ron. It's all going to be OK." The calm, gentle voice whispered. "I'll take care of you… My Little Squeeb."

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…!"

Ron's scream could be heard throughout the tri-city area as he woke up from his second dream.

The End…


Thanks for reading, and let me know whatcha think...