Sorry for not updating in such a long time. I lost track of this story's essential fun-ness. Back in full swing now.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH! Its attacking me! Its attacking me!"
"Ron, would you stop freaking out? Its just a spider," Kim said exasperatedly as they walked along the grassy path.
"Call the National Guard before it devours me! Hurry!"
Calmy, she flicked the tiny arachnid off his shoulder. "Happy?"
The boy returned to his usual manner. "Well, it could've hurt me," he insisted. "Tree spiders-never liked 'em. They're almost as bad as monkeys."
"You have something against monkeys now?" Kim asked.
"Yeah, some weird camp keeps sending us these stupid brochures. One look at their mascot and you're scarred for life."
"Whatever." She stopped suddenly.
"What are you doing?" Ron questioned.
"Trying to figure out where we're going." She looked at the stream for a moment.
"I've got it! Everybody knows that the current runs from higher elevation to lower, and the Lowerton Ski Lodge is in the mountains, so all we have to do is follow the direction of the stream until we're back in Middleton."
"Yeah. I knew that," Ron lied.
The two began walking in the opposite direction from which they had a few minutes ago. Things seemed to be looking up until…
"Help!Help!" The faint sound came from the distance.
"Kim, did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"It sounded like a voice, but I don't know what it was say-"
"Shh! There it is again."
"Help! Somebody help us!" It was a bit clearer now.
"I think it's coming from over there." Kim turned around for the second time.
"Hey, I thought Middleton was the other way!"
"Ron, someone needs us. Middleton can wait-if anyone even noticed we're missing!"
"Okay, but I think I should warn you: I have a bad feeling about this."
"Don't be such a scaredy cat," she ran towards the source of the sound, dragging her best friend along.
There they were. On the other side of the stream was a damaged rowboat with two figures clinging to the side.
"HELP!" The older kids still didn't see them.
"Don't worry, we're coming!" called Kim.
"How are we supposed to get all the way over there?" Ron asked.
One of Wade's gadgets would have come in handy at the moment. Unfortunately, they were on their own. The super genius hadn't been born yet.
"We'll just have to swim," the redhead replied.
She immersed herself into the water, Ron following her lead.
They soon discovered that there were sharp, jagged rocks jutting out beneath the water.
It was hard to get further than halfway across.
"I think we're stuck!" said Ron as his shirt snagged on a giant stone. Kim's sleeve did the same.
"Ugh! We can't give up now!"
The boat across the stream began to give way, threatening to push the children under.
Determinedly Kim struggled to break free from the rocks. Then she helped Ron.
They continued thrashing through the rapids until they reached the others.
Four tired bodies hugged the side of the flimsy vessel.
"Thanks," the elder girl said.
"I didn't think we'd get saved by little kids," the boy mumbled.
She elbowed him gently in the ribs.
"Max, they saved our lives! So be nice, okay?"
"Okay. But that's not going to help Ned."
"Who's Ned?" Ron asked.
The elder girl sighed. "While we're stuck here, we might as well make introductions. I'm Tammy, Tammy Evans."
"Nice to meet you," Kim said. "You remind me of a girl in our Pre-K class, Tara."
"Oh, that's right!" the blonde girl realized. "Tara is my sister. You must be in the same class."
"I'm Kim Possible."
"Weird name," said the rude boy.
Tammy elbowed him once more. "I like it."
"And I'm Ron. I can't tell you my last name because people make fun of it."
"That's all right. This is Max Rockwaller by the way."
Max grunted, "My cousin Bonnie's in Pre-K. What's with those gigantic ears, Ronnie?"
"Never heard of her." Both 4-year-olds ignored his last remark.
The boat lurched, causing everyone to tighten their grip.
"I have an idea." Kim took the rubber band off her right pigtail. The hair loosened into a great mass of red.
She jumped as high as she could, hooking one end of the rubber band onto the tip of a tree limb.
"Hold on!"
Ron grabbed onto her legs. Using the extremely durable elastic as a vine, she swung across the riverbank. They landed safely on the other side, but Kim's rubber band snapped moments afterward.
The other two were still in the water.
"What do we do now?" Ron asked.
"Don't worry. I have another rubber band."
She threw the hair tie in Tammy's direction.
"Do what we did!" The redhead called.
"I can't!" Tammy was bewildered.
"Its easy, just don't look down"
Miraculously, the tweens made it across, though with considerably less ease than Kim and Ron.
"We're alive! We're alive!" Max cheered and kissed the ground blissfully.
The others stared.
"Forget you saw that or I will hunt you down like a wolf!" he insisted.
"Thank you so much!" Tammy spoke sincerely.
"Oh, it was nothing. I mean, it's not like we were in the ocean or anything." She blushed slightly.
Just then a frightened scream came from within the brush.
"Omigosh, Ned!"
"Who?"
"Our friend. He-he got carried off by the current…"
Kim put a hand comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Looks like our rescue mission isn't over yet," she said determinedly.
"Oh, great! That's the last thing I wanted to hear." Ron slapped his forehead.
More on the way.