Hey guys!
I am SO sorry it's been such a VERY long time! I lost my gung-ho for this story and a few of my others, and have no other excuse to give you aside from the fact that I needed to take a long break from fanfiction before continuing on with new determination! But I'm back now and ready to finish the stories I began! I hope you all can forgive me, and with that said, enjoy the next chapter of Burners Unite!

-StokinDembers

Burners Unite: UnexpectedTrouble

After a boat was rented from the docks, Julie, Duke, Babs and the other guards were all soon aboard and sailing across the water. Many of the other gangs were already boating across the lake at fast speeds, competing in races and towing members behind on hover boards. It looked like an immense amount of fun, but as Julie sat down she considered just what exactly she was getting herself into. She was using Duke to try and get to Mike, when clearly, he was totally into Foxy. This was absolutely ridiculous! Julie felt instant shame and regret stir inside her heart, as she realized she was using anger and jealousy as an excuse to manipulate another person... and it was wrong. Even if that one person was the Duke of Detroit. He'd been good to her today and deserved more than being simply led on to believe she actually liked him in return.

Julie sighed and looked up at the Duke from where she sat, watching as his blonde hair whipped in the wind, the sun shining off his sunglasses and a big, self satisfied smile plastered on his face as he stared out and beyond the water. Julie sighed. After this boat ride, she would tell him she wanted to go home. She just couldn't string him on like this...

"Well well," the Duke suddenly piped up, "Is that Mike Chilton I see?" he asked, lifting a hand to block out the sun from his eyes and look yonder. Julie's gut instantly wrenched.
"Oh... I don't know, is it?" she asked dumbly pretending to be surprised and turning to look the direction Duke was peering. It definitely was Mike. There was no mistaking it. He was riding on a hover board above the water, jumping over waves, streaming past the bobbing cone markers with mind boggling speed and precision.
"Why it sure is Chilton! So the man knows how to water glide..." Duke murmured putting a thoughtful hand to his chin. Julie watched him in frightful anticipation.
"Babs! Fetch me a hover board!" Duke commanded quite suddenly, motioning his second hand guard to do his bidding. The bubble gum smacking, red head got to action and began taking down one of the boards strung above on the boat rack. Julie grimaced, dreading whatever it was Duke was planning.

Ten minutes later, Duke was wearing a ridiculously short pair of shinny red water shorts. He still sported his sun glasses along his "D" chain, and he plunged fearlessly into the lake from off the side of the boat in an elaborate dive. Once surfacing, his hover board was thrown over towards him and shortly after... Duke was water gliding. Babs had taken control of driving the boat, and Julie was left to put a hand on her forehead as they cut through the lake tides, making a beeline off in the direction Mike Chilton and his crew were last seen.

...

Mike was having a good time. Yes, he'd gotten Julie quite safely out of his mind and was actually free to enjoy the cold lake water splashing up against his face, the smell of the summer air filling his nostrils and the sound of the boat's engine along with the distant band music in the background drumming in his ears. For a couple moments, everything was perfect. And then... out of no where came the Duke of Detroit. The egotistic maniac had apparently rented a boat of his own and was being towed behind on a hover board. They zoomed up along side so that the Duke was riding waves only a few meters away from where Mike was.
"Chilton!" the man shouted over. Mike could not believe the sight he was being subjected to. And, on top of everything, there sat Julie, sitting all cute and petite within the boat hauling the Duke and looking over at him with big beautiful eyes.
"Duke... fancy running into you out here," Chilton responded smoothly, resolving to keep his cool and not allow the jealousy he felt festering inside him to blow him apart.

"Well my friend, I figured since we were both out here we might as well make a friendly competition of it!" Duke suggested eagerly.
"What did you have in mind?" Mike asked, not yet so wise as to leave an open ended challenge alone. For all he knew, the Duke would most likely throw some stakes into this "friendly" competition.
"Why don't we compete in a set of the lake games! Starting with a boating race. First one to complete the marked course wins," the Duke answered.
"Wins what?" Mike snorted, not convinced that there wasn't more of a catch.
"If I win... I get to spend another full day with Julie," the Duke grinned. Mike frowned as the truth of the bet came out.
"And if I win?" Mike asked.
"I'll give your team one hundred tubs of motor oil," Duke answered. Mike had no doubt that Duke had the amount of oil that he claimed. He owned close to a dozen limos after all...
"Alright, you're on," Mike responded. His team was always in need of adding more to their oil stock after all. Besides, the Burners needed Julie with them when missions came up. It wasn't convenient for her to be gone when her skills were incrediblely useful. Mike told himself it was for practical purposes only that Julie needed to be around, and not just because he didn't want her spending more time with Duke than absolutely necessary.

"Excellent!" Duke shouted in victory, "First one past the finish marker wins. If you fall you are instantly disqualified!" he declared, the boat pulling him now breaking away in a wide arch back towards the cone plotted starting line.

"Texas," Mike activated the mobile computer in front of him, multitasking as he boarded, "We're going to race the Duke one round through the cone markers. I need you to push that boat as hard as you can... and don't flip us!" he ordered.
"You got it dude!" Texas's mini holo image responded readily.

Thus the series of games began...

...

Why oh why was Julie constantly put into these ridiculous situations? Now Duke had challenged Mike to a boating race and she was forced to watch the whole nail biting competition. It was so strange how all of this was playing out, yet in a way, it kind of worked to her advantage. Was Mike finally noticing her? Maybe? She'd seen him shoot several brief glances her way. Was he wanting to preform well knowing that she was watching? Julie highly doubted it. Most likely he would be attempting to do well for the Burner's and his own reputation at that was all.

When both teams were in position, Julie spotted Texas at the helm of the speed boat which was going to tug Mike. Foxy, Chuck and the Amazons were also on board. Foxy was currently leaning over the back of the boat and stepping onto the dock so that she could delegate the race with a starting flag. Just the sight of the gorgeous brunette in her pretty bathing suit made Julie's skin crawl. Self pity struck once again, as Julie was reminded that she would never measure up against Foxy when it came to the struggle for Mike's attentions.

She sighed and resigned herself to having to simply sit by and watch Mike and Duke battle it out. Little was she aware of the stakes in which Mike had accepted the challenge for...

...

The boating race was a singe. Mike won with flying colors, quite literally having boated circles around Duke and his guards, as well as winning a great deal of awe and respect from the onlookers watching from the beach. And what about Julie? Mike had sought to find at least some enthusiasm or approval in her expressions, from where she sat in the back of Duke's boat, but he was disappointed when little more than mere boredom was all that could be detected on her features. Did she not even care? Mike couldn't believe this! He was doing this for her dang it! Well... uh... sort of ...at least, aw heck, YES he was doing this for her! And she wasn't even noticing! A spark of anger lit a small flame inside his heart.

"You won that round Chilton... but let's see how you do in a game of volley ball!" Duke shouted over with a determined and devious grin.
"Bring it on Duke!" Mike shouted back.
"Five members per team!" Duke called as the boats both docked. Mike nodded, looking to those in his company. Alright he had Texas, Chuck, possibly Foxy... and Dutch was somewhere out there. It took little time at all for Mike to contact his mechanic and get him running over here to compete. Soon both teams were prepared and waiting by the volley ball nets. When Duke came forward with his team, Mike startled when he saw that Julie would be playing. This was not bound to go well. And Mike was right... He and his Burners along with Foxy were positively slaughtered by Duke, Babs, Julie and his two other guards. It was sad really.

"Don't look so glum," Duke chided Mike, spinning the volley ball on his finger before it rolled across and behind his shoulders expertly to his other hand.
"Me and the my faithful subjects play a round of volley ball nearly every day..." Duke grinned gloatingly. Mike was frowning, though and didn't feel much better about the loss, due to the fact that Julie was actually smiling triumphantly at the fact that she and Duke had won. She indeed, had been the reason Mike had been so dang sloppy! He hadn't wanted to crush her soul in a brutal defeat, and he definitely had been less than focussed with her darting and bouncing everywhere like a graceful fairy, flying through the air. Foxy snorted by Mike's side, leaning an elbow on his shoulder.

"Yeah well up next is a dune race... " the brunette commented, "And that just happens to be our specialty," she stated, resting her other hand on her cocked hip confidently. Mike grinned, feeling better about the upcoming challenge. He hadn't raced dune buggies before... but it couldn't be much different than what he did every day with his cars, save for the fact that they would be driving on sand.
"Let's get to it then!" Duke clapped his hands excitedly and both he and Julie headed off together to rent a dune buggy. Mike ground his jaw and followed along with Foxy.

Ten minutes later and a pair of dune buggies were idling side by side on the lake shore, Mike and Foxy seated in one... Duke and Julie in the other. Mike Chilton revved his buggy's engine, positively detesting the sight of Julie riding beside Duke with that snide smile on her lips, and making it evident by the way he shot them both a disgusted glare.

...

Julie didn't miss the indignant look Mike had shot her and surprised even herself by sticking a tongue out at Mike in return. Winning in volley ball with Duke had definitely been no help when it came to keeping her pride in check, but Mike's look of shock and awe when they had won had made Julie feel incredibly good about herself. Now it was so on!

"Ready...!" Texas shouted from a couple meters in front of them, "SET...!"

Duke grit his teeth, gaze narrowing ahead of him with a large boot lingering over the gas pedal readily. Julie watched him with amusement and then glanced forward just in time to watch as Texas brought his arms up and dropped them with a loud,

"GOooo!"

Both buggies roared off at once, tearing past Texas and spraying up a ray of sand behind their back tires into the audience that was cheering in a rather large crowd behind them. The rush of sudden speed and the jerkiness of the buggy's steering caused Julie to clutch onto the nearest hand bar and grip it for dear life! The ride wasn't exactly smooth... and Duke was clearly not experienced with this kind of vehicle. Mike took the lead instantly, being the better, more experienced driver that he was.

However... it didn't matter because up ahead where the finish line had been plotted out, suddenly came a set of jungle terrain tanks, roaring onto the sand and straight towards them, large missiles aimed forward. Hanging out from the tank windows and sitting atop arming the roof's turret... were Terra Dwellers!

...

"What the-!?"

Mike had been quite confident with himself and his driving skills, more than ready to end this race and reclaim his satisfaction in being a superior competitor, but then... THIS! Terra Dwellers had come rumbling onto the dunes in two large, green and purple painted battle tanks, tearing through the sand in their direction, weapons prepped and taking aim.

"Whoa! Who the heck are these guys?!" Foxy shouted in shock.
"Bad news!" Mike replied, gripping the steering wheel and wrenching it hard to the right. Just as he did so, an explosion blasted right by them, narrowly missing the buggy and instead striking the sand where it had been the mili-second before. Foxy screamed but held fast, bracing herself for Mike's next set of evasive maneuvers. The race didn't matter any longer.

From now on, it would be a race for survival...

Alright folks! How was that!? Some fun.. some action, and now we're getting down and serious! :D Please leave reviews and tell me how happy you are that I'm writing again! The more reviews I get the more inspired I will be to keep putting out chapters!