"A Brief Stop in Townsville"
Things got rather uneventful on the bus after Scooby and Astro climbed aboard until that evening, when the bus pulled into a large metropolitan city known as Townsville.
When the bus passed the city limits sign, Pam turned on the intercom.
"Okay, passengers, listen up. When we make our stop in Townsville, we will be switching drivers. Now, I know a lot of you have taken a liking to me, but my line only runs from Hollywood to Townsville. Be sure you treat the new driver the same way you treated me, y'here?"
"Awww," said Runt as the bus terminal came into view. "I'm gonna miss that lady." A couple of the other dogs felt disappointed by the news too.
The bus parked at the terminal, and the passengers got out of their seats and left the bus single file. Pam was surprised when she saw the large group of dogs heading down the aisle towards her.
"My, my! I didn't know my bus would be so popular with the dogs!" Pam walked out of the bus as each dog either hugged or licked her good-bye. Even Gir acted normally for a moment and gave Pam a quick hug (although he didn't know why; he was just following everyone else's example.) The dogs waved good-bye as Pam entered the terminal building.
Then, the canines noticed that most of their passengers were taking their luggage and hailing taxis.
"Hey! Where's everyone going?" whined Courage.
"I guess this is their stop," answered Cat.
Gir began running all around the departing passengers yelling good-bye in foreign tongues and jumping around to the point of annoyance. When he came back, the dogs noticed a tall man in his late twenties approach the bus in a grey uniform.
"Rat rust re da rew river," announced Scooby.
"The what?" asked Dog.
"I don't know," muttered Courage. "But I think that might be the new driver."
"Hey, Robert," said Cat to Goddard. "You think that's our new driver?"
"It's 'Goddard'," informed the robot on his viewscreen. "And it's mere speculation as to who he is."
"Uh, right. Thanks," said Cat, still as clueless as before.
As it turned out, one of the passengers asked the man if he was the new bus driver. The dogs leaned in as they heard the man's answer: "Driver, shmiver. I'm the janitor." He then entered the bus and began wiping the floor.
"Well, that was a waste," said Cat.
As the dogs (and Cat) went in the terminal to try and find a bite to eat, the Talking Dog walked by and saw the bus. He stopped and gasped. It was like a sign or something. The dream a couple nights ago, the SOS, could have been real! Cautiously, Talking Dog crossed the street and approached the bus. It was heading to Boston! What luck! However, it was apparently being cleaned and vacuumed at the moment. T.D. (for short) was about to go find who the driver was, when suddenly, an earthquake struck the city of Townsville at that moment.
At least, he thought it was an earthquake. But then T.D. heard an earth-shattering roar and breathed a sigh of relief. It was only a monster attacking the city. (You may be wondering how T.D. could stay so calm, but monsters attacked Townsville so often, it was a common occurrence. Besides, everyone knew who would easily defeat them.)
As T.D. stared up at the monster walking behind some tall buildings, the other dogs raced out of the terminal and into the parking lot. Courage and Scooby ran straight into the bus. They were met by the janitor who fought his way out of the bus and ran into the terminal. The other dogs just stared up at the monster in fear and amazement, except for Gir, of course.
"Yay! It's a great big lizard!" shrieked Gir. "I'm gonna eat you!"
"Ro rudder," said Astro, rolling his eyes.
It was a great big lizard alright. Green and scaly, with red eyes and spikes down it's back. He roared again.
All the dogs looked at Goddard, expecting him to fly up and defeat the creature. But Goddard knew the odds were against him this time, and typed, "Don't look at me! You think of something!"
However, before anyone could do anything, a pink, blue, and green rainbow arched in the sky as a "choo-choo-choo" whooshing sound could be heard. The rays of color collided into the monster so hard, that it crashed on the other side of the buildings.
"What in the world was that?" asked the dogs.
T.D. looked at them with a 'you all must be tourists' look on his face. "Those were the Powerpuff Girls saving the day again. They're superheroes."
"Ohhhhh," answered the dogs.
Just then, a large piece of building landed not too far away from the dogs. As they freaked out, a man ran out of the terminal screaming, "Back on the bus! Get back on the bus!"
The dogs didn't have to be told twice. They ran up the steps and down the aisle, including T.D. They were too scared to notice that only two other passengers were on the bus. They sat down where Scooby and Courage were sitting fearfully.
The man sat in the driver's seat, closed the door, and started the engine. The bus accelerated and headed for the interstate.
As the bus began exiting the city, people on the street began clapping and waving back in the direction of the city.
"I guess the Powerpuffs came on top again," said T.D.
The bus's intercom came to life. "Hello, um, passengers. My name is Danny and this is my first professional bus drive with Greyhound, so let's make it my best by following all the bus rules, okay? We will be driving to Boston with a quick stop in New York City to refuel. Thank you and have a nice ride."
"He seems nice," said Dog. But then, Danny spoke up again.
"I'm sorry, but dogs aren't allowed on the bus." Danny was looking at the dogs in his rearview mirror. "I'm afraid I'll have to drop you all off at the next town."
Before any of the dogs could protest, the two human passengers spoke up.
"Those dogs gotta stay on this bus," said a young woman.
"Yeah!" shouted a middle-aged man. "They've been given special clearance by the company to ride this bus!"
"We have?" thought the dogs.
"Well……….alright," said Danny. "Just don't make any messes back there."
The dogs stared at each other. They were gonna have to thank that man for helping them out like that…whoever he was.
Outside, the sun was beginning to set.
(Sorry this chapter was so short. I promise the next chapter "The Realization" will be much better.)