A/N Yes, I'm still writing, and no, I haven't forgotten about these stories, or my sequel to Stratagem. Just been busy with other writing, job hunting, and all around busy-ness. Thanks go out to Eddy13 who keeps poking to make sure I'm still working, and for beta checking this story.

From 'Naked Genius.'

Chapter 7: Bernice

Kim: Thanks for the ride, Bernice

Bernice: Well, you know, it's the least I could do after you saved my artist's colony from that dam break last year.

Kim: No big, it was just like patching up the cracks in my fish tank back home, only it took a lot more gum!

Well, I was on the news again tonight, and this time, it was because of something that happened right here in Middleton! Most of the time it's just a short little side note about 'recent events in the news' or whatever, but this time I was interviewed by Trisha Labrowski and everything, and she said I was the feature story of the night.

I hope I didn't look like an idiot in that interview. Ron said I was great, but he always says that. He also said this would be the start of our super-famousness-something-or-other. I was kinda too nervous to keep listening when I realized how many people would see the interview. Fortunately it got easier as she just asked me questions and stuff.

I didn't think what I did was that exciting, but it sure got me noticed. After using all that gum to plug the dam, the gum company offered me an endorsement deal. Of course I couldn't take it, it wouldn't be right...but it was rather flattering. I guess in a way, I'm sorta making a name for myself...

X X X X

"Kim, I'm not sure how much more of this I can take."

"Just keep chewing, Ron." Kim chewed her gum rapidly, trying to get it soft and sticky.

Both teens were up in Kim's room; they had been working on homework together, when Kim had accidentally knocked over a lamp she kept on a table in her room. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, except the lamp fell right into Kim's fish tank, cracking the side. The crack ran from the top to about the midpoint of the glass side, and water was leaking out in a thin stream. The water was currently pooling on the table. Kim placed her hand against the side, trying to slow the leak, as she looked at Ron.

"Faster!"

Ron glared back. "I'm chewing as fast as I can."

Kim rolled her eyes as she chewed her own gum as quickly as she could. "Ron, I've seen you finish a Naco in under fifteen seconds. You've spent twice that much chewing already."

"Yeah, chewing." The blond shook his head like she was clueless. "I don't spent all that time chewing when I'm eating a Naco."

"Eww." She shook her head at that, then motioned to Ron. He gave a last chew, then spat the gum out in his hand, before dropping it in hers. The red head cringed a bit. "Gorchy."

She stuck her hand inside the tank, pressing the sticky gum to the crack, noting the spray of water slowed a bit. As she used her hand to keep the pressure and hold it in place, she reached her hand backwards, palm open. "Okay Rufus, you're next."

When no gooey wad of gum was forthcoming, Kim frowned, then turned. She looked at the little naked mole rat, watching him chewing and smacking on the gum. "Rufuuuuus." She drew the name out, and he perked his head up, looking at her. The look darkened as he realized that she wanted his gum.

He shook his head at her. "Mine. Tasty."

She sighed, but knew there was no way she could force him to give up the gum. The red headed teen had given him the gum, and Ron had quickly explained that it was for chewing, not eating. The naked mole rat had indicated he understood. Looks like he understood too well; this had been the first gum that he'd been given, and Rufus wasn't going to give it up without a fight.

Kim shook her head, then spit her own gum out, quickly sticking it to the side of her fish tank. Fortunately, by this point, the water had slowed to a trickle, and the waterline had dropped below the section that she'd patched. With that last bit of gum, the tank was sealed.

She pulled her hand out, shaking off some of the water, then smirked, grabbing a hold of Ron's jersey, drying her hands. He huffed at that, standing and backing away, but by then it was too late; he had a couple of small, wet hand prints on his clothes. He glared at her, and considered reaching his own hands in the water to get them wet, then dry them on her shirt. Her returning glare told him that wouldn't be a good idea.

Finally making up his mind, he turned back away from her, looking down at the book, and the studying they'd been doing. He picked up his textbook, mumbling something about learning history. He sat back down in one of Kim's chairs, eyes still on the page, as he tumbled out of the bean bag chair, laying on his side on the floor. A few second later he started snoring.

Kim just kind of stared at him in shock, before finally laughing, "All right, Ron, you've made your point, we can take a quick study break."

He snorted, and his friend shook her head, stepping forward to nudge him in the side with her foot. He gave a squawk, sitting up, insisting, "I'm studying!"

The red headed teen snatched the book from his hands, smiling, "Actually, I said we're done studying for a bit, Ron, how about we take a break?"

Her friend's eyes lit up at her words, "Booyah!" He started reaching for his backpack, to put all of his notes and books away, but Kim bopped at his hands lightly.

"Leave it, we'll come back and do some more studying later."

Giving a dejected frown, Ron snorted again. "What's the point? Not like I'm gonna learn enough to pass this test. There's just so many people. And names. And dates. And then there's the curve, I mean, everyone's going to do so much better than me, I'll be dead last."

Snickering, Kim shook her head, "But all those other people don't have your secret weapon."

Perkimg up, Ron looked over, "Secret weapon? Are you going to zap me with some sort of genius ray?"

Kim smiled, "Pfft, like those things even exist. No, I meant me!"

"You're gonna let me cheat off you?"

Sighing, the red head shook her head again, "No, of course not, but I'm gonna help you study." She snapped her fingers, "Oh, I know! We can take a break, and keep studying!"

Her friend looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "How can we do both?"

Grinning, she grabbed his hand and pulled him along. "Come on, I'll show you."

X X X X

A few minutes later, the two teen were on their bikes, riding their way around Middleton. As they pedaled their way up and down each of the streets, Kim would call over to her friend, asking him one question after another. After a few grumbled comments about this not being a break, he finally got into the spirit of things and was answering her questions back.

From the start, Ron missed most of the questions, not sure of hardly any of the information without his book in front of them. As Km quizzed him, though, explaining, coaching, and making him think, he started to get some questions right. First one every couple of questions, then he was making about half right, and soon he was surprising both teens by practically reciting Kim's answers verbatim.

Kim gave a small smirk to herself, deciding to push herself; she gave a half wave over to Ron, then motioned her hand towards the roadway out of town. She set off, and he gave a frown, but followed her, huffing to himself as he made his way up the hill.

While not truly 'out of town' the road ran upwards out of the center of Middleton, and soon enough they left most of the neighborhood and houses behind. This particular road took them up past Middleton Lake, on the far side of the park. The lake itself was man-made, held in place by a large dam at the top of this hill. As Kim biked up the road, she thought back to the history she'd learned.

A long time back, back before her parents have even been born, the entire area had been a large valley, almost a bowl shape with one end completely open. The area wasn't good for farming or mining, and was actually a fairly dangerous area, frequent rock slides and shifting ground making the area a hazard to everyone. A bold plan had been devised; rather than post signs and fences to try and keep people out, and enterprising mayor had put for the suggestion of damming the valley up, and filling it with water to make a man-made lake.

The idea had met with criticism at first, however after careful consideration, Police Commissioner Barkin had gruffly seconded the motion, and many of the other lawmakers had agreed. Construction on the dam had begun just a few short months later, with many contractors coming from all over the nation to work and build the dam.

After a few setbacks, and some issues with the land around the area, the dam had been finished, only two years after the construction plans had gone forth. The lake formed by the dam had quickly been christened 'Lake Middleton,' to no one's surprise. The mayor may have been a genius when it came to city construction, but he was not one to waste words. Lake Middleton had quickly become a central location for many residents to visit, and the formation of a park around the lake had just helped cement the importance of the area.

Kim looked up the hill in front of them, smiling. And over the years since, it had been just as important to her parents, and their parents, and to her, herself, of course. She looked over at Ron, remembering the number of times they had gone swimming up there.

As Kim turned her head, she frowned at her best friend as he slowed. Puffing, Ron hopped off his bicycle, gripping the handlebars with his hands as he shook his head at Kim. "Uh uh, KP, I'm done riding up this hill. Lets go back down and go home. Or maybe to Bueno Nacho." His stomach rumbled as he gave her a sheepish grin.

His friend shook her head, "Come on, we're almost to the top. Lets at least go up to the dam, I love the view from up there. We'll head back down from there, I promise."

Sighing, Ron nodded, still walking beside his bike. Kim sighed, then hopped off hers, as well, walking with him; the road really was getting pretty steep to ride a bike up-and besides, traffic seemed stopped along the road. With a frown, Kim led the way, Ron a few steps behind her.

They passed a handful of stopped vehicles, most of them with irritated drivers inside. Kim frowned as she looked at all the vehicles in the line, craning her head around to look upwards as far as she could see, but the cars seemed to stretch on forever; a large tanker truck nearly a hundred feet ahead also helped to block most of her view. She shrugged to herself, still walking upwards with her bike. There was no traffic coming from the other direction, either, so she wondered if maybe the road wasn't closed for some reason. She hoped their hadn't been an accident.

Ron huffed beside her again, wiping a hand across his forehead. "Come on, KP, lets just turn around, look, the road's all blocked or something, we'll never get up there anyway." He wiped his head again whining, "I'm tired."

The red head hesitated, missing a step. Maybe they should turn back, she could come up to the dam anytime she wanted-without Ron if need be. It wasn't like the dam was going to be gone tomorrow; it had stood at the top of these hills for decades, another day wouldn't matter. As she looked back upwards towards the line of cars, though, she seemed to receive a foreboding feeling. With another small shrug, she turned a playful grin to her friend. "Come on, you need the exercise."

Her best friend stuck his tongue out at her, but followed obediently. He gave a yelp, though, when he was hit in the shoulder by an opening door. The action wasn't enough to topple him off his feet, but it did surprise him, and Kim as well. As they turned around to look, Ron quickly shuffling out of the way, the door on the tanker truck they were passing opened all the way.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there." The man inside the tanker truck hopped down from his cab, looking at the two teen apologetically, "Really, I am sorry, that cab's so high I didn't even realize you two were going by."

Kim smiled, "It's no problem, it was just an accident." She looked at the man, then back up the road, "We were just going up to top of the dam to look around a bit, it's always such a good view."

The trucker smiled back, "Oh really? I'll had to take a look myself." He face darkened, "That is, of course, if I ever get up there. I've got a delivery to make."

Ron rubbed his shoulder, before looking at the truck, "Delivery? What are you delivering?"

With a smirk, the driver patted the side of the large tank. "Liquid chewing gum. It's got no flavor, of course, and we've got something in there churning the gum, keeping it from getting all hard and rigid like used gum."

Ron shook his head. "ABC gum? Seriously? That's just nasty."

Kim rolled her eyes. "It hasn't been chewed yet, Ron, they just keep it like this while they transport it. She blinked. "I wonder why they don't package it in the factory?"

The driver smiled. "Actually, we usually do. But the machine's down, so I suggested transporting it to another factory to get cut into strips. Seemed like a waste not to use all this gum. That's why I was driving it here." He looked back up the road. "I should have been done and back home now, I wonder what's taking them so long up there. I thought it might be an accident, but it if was, it's a doozy of an accident."

Kim nodded back, following his gaze, before smiling slowly, "Well, thanks for your time, sir, I wish you the best of luck in getting that gum to the factory." He nodded back at her, walking back along the side of his truck, checking some of the truck's equipment since he was stuck anyway.

The red head turned back around to see that Ron was already a half dozen steps ahead of her, working his way up the hill towards the dam. She gave a small snort, and hurried to catch up with him, shaking her head lightly. Soon enough, however, the two teens were at the top of the hill, able to look at the dam. It quickly became obvious why traffic had been stopped.

Water was gushing out the front of the dam, shooting out in a spray nearly fifteen feet in front of the concrete, pouring down like a new waterfall. The water itself was running down near the bottom of the dam, and had already started to collect, creating a large pool of water. Kim rushed to the edge of the railing, looking out in the distance, noting the valley that was in danger of being flooded. She spotted a number of houses in the area, a small town in danger of being washed away by the flood if the dam collapsed.

Ron was at her side, looking down at the water gushing out, "That's a lot of water, KP." Even as he said it, he shook his head, knowing that was a gross understatement. The lake itself was filled with millions upon millions of tons of water-let loose into the area, it would demolish anything and everything in its path, cutting a swath of destruction for miles. He shook his head again in realization at the force under their feet.

Kim opened her mouth to say something, but her eyes widened as she heard a large crack, the ground shaking underneath her. Ron gave a yelp, reaching over to steady himself, both teens holding onto each other as the dam shook, a larger crack appearing on the front of the dam, the force of the water making the concrete break and separate. The red head shivered as she ground finally stopped moving; she looked down, wondering how much longer it would be until the dam collapsed entirely.

Grabbing her best friend's arm, she turned, making her way over to the police cars and emergency vehicles on top of the dam. A number of scientists and police men were standing together, discussing what could be done. As Kim made her way towards them, one of the policemen moved to shoo her off, but Officer Hobble noticed her, quickly breaking out of the circle. "Kim! Good to see you, although I'm not really sure what you can do about this to help. Not even you can fix a dam like this." He stepped away from the group, towards Kim, to try and explain what was going on.

He grimaced slightly. "We had a runaway speed boat running out across the water of the lake, and somehow it managed to break its way through the buoys protecting the dam. It slammed into the top, did a little damage, but no one thought it was a big deal. An hour ago, though, a crack formed on the front of the dam, and water started pouring through. We've been trying to contain it since then, but no luck so far. You can't just fix a dam like this." He shrugged, at a loss.

Kim nodded, shaking her head back at him. "Is there anything we can do?"

The policeman grimaced. "We've been trying to get everyone turned around and off the dam, or down the hill, but it's been slow going. There were a few people injured when the dam first ruptured, and we've been trying to cordon off the area to keep anyone from coming up here in case the dam bursts." Another shaking of the dam punctuated his words, and the three of them staggered again. "If you could both go back down the hill and try and get people to turn around, it would be helpful. On foot, or with your bikes, it might be easier for you to help get people turned around and out of the way." He grimaced again, "Otherwise there's not much you can do unless you can figure out some way to plug the dam. It's gonna break, there's just no telling how long it will be until that happens." He hesitated, but after seeing Kim at a loss, he shrugged, motioned them to help if they could as he headed back to the group.

Kim looked around, frowning, and even Ron was making a face at the situation. For the dam to just break like this was practically unimaginable. The scale, too, was hard to comprehend, all the water, all the people that would be effected. Kim shook her head, looking over at Ron, giving an almost pleading question, "And ideas?"

Ron opened his mouth to answer, but felt a squirming in his pocket, watching as Rufus poked his head out. The mole rat started tugging on Ron's shirt to try and get his attention, but the teen shook his head, "Not now, Rufus, wait a minute, little buddy." He looked back up to Kim. "I don't know. I mean, isn't this something that you'd ask Wade about?"

Indignant, Rufus hopped out of Ron's pocket, dashing to the ground, as he reached over to tug on Kim's pant leg next, looking for attention. She didn't look down, instead choosing to answer Ron's question, giving a grimace. "The Kimmunicator's on the charger. I didn't think we'd need it."

Ron was incredulous, "You forgot the Kimmunicator? Isn't that, like, impossible?" He snorted, ignoring Rufus as well, as the little mole rat started hopping around on the ground, seeking their attention.

Kim glared back, letting him know she wasn't amused. "And what about you? Where's your phone? We could call Wade on that." Rufus was running around in short little circles now, but the rapid movement wasn't enough to make them look down.

"This phone?" Ron pulled an antenna out of his pocket, with a number of wires attached to the end, the four, seven and eight keypad digits dangling from the wires. "Remind me never to leave my stuff where your brothers can find it."

Finally Rufus jumped against Ron's leg hard, and he looked down at his little friend, "Alright, Rufus, I get it, what's the problem?"

The naked mole rat looked up at the two teens, smiling slightly now that he had their attention. He put a little frown on his face, then looked down. "Bleh!" He spat his soggy mess of chewed gum out onto the concrete, the turned his face back up to them. "No good."

Both teens looked at the gum, then shared a look.

X X X X

Kim and Ron quickly ran back down the road together, trying to spot the tanker truck from earlier. The two teens gulped as they realized that the truck had actually managed to work his way back and forth, and had finally gotten out of his spot in line, as was starting to work his way backwards, slowly backing his way down the road. A police man nearby was helping him to try and get him to a side road to turn around completely.

The two teens were running wildly now, waving their arms around, trying to catch the policeman's attention, as well as the driver of the truck. Finally, they caught the policeman's attention. He raised his hands up, causing the truck driver to stop, as he turned and looked at the two teens. "What seems to be the problem, kids?"

Ron rushed up gasping, and even Kim was bent forward, hands on her knees, as she panted, trying to breathe. She took another large, deep breath, before looking at the policeman. "I-Idea, I think I know how we can save the dam."

"Really?" The man smiled, humoring the two teens, "What, you planning on supergluing it back together or something?"

Kim narrowed her eyes at his mocking tone, "Kinda. Chewing gum, should plug up the dam, it worked with my fish tank, I don't see why it wouldn't work here."

The policeman looked at the two of them, waiting for a punchline. When he realized they were serious, he snorted, "Yeah, right." As he thought about it some more, he frowned. "Wait a minute, that might be crazy enough to work. I remember my sister doing the same thing when we were kids." He stepped back, motioning to the truck. "If you can convince him to go, I'd say it's worth a shot."

Panting out a thanks, Kim dashed forward over to the truck, hopping up by the cab's door and tapping on the window. The truck driver rolled it down, "Well, if it isn't you again. Figure out what was going on up there?"

His smile disappeared as Kim explained to him what was going on up at the top of the dam. As the teen started to explain her idea, though, his grin came back, "You're pulling my leg, right? You can't think that'll actually work."

Kim met his gaze firmly, "It will work. Because it has to. Please, can we use the gum to stop up the dam?"

The man shrugged, "Hey, it's fine by me, they were going to toss this stuff out anyway, I volunteered to drive it over cause I didn't want to see it go to waste. They probably won't use it anyway, but I wanted to give it a try-but plugging your dam would be a pretty good use for it." He opened the passenger door, letting Kim come around and get in, Ron joining her, as he threw the truck in gear and started his way up to the top of the hill. "Besides, if this works, think of the publicity!" He laughed.

It only took them a couple of minutes to get up the hill, the tanker truck chugging it's way up there. As they reached the top, a number of policemen came over to try and stop them, turn them around, but when Kim leaned out the door to wave at Officer Hobble, they backed away. The policeman came over, looking down the length of the truck, before giving a slow smile, "What have you got planned, Kim?"

She hopped back down out of the truck, explaining quickly, as she motioned for the tanker to turn around and back up towards the top of the dam, near the water inside. Kim went over to the edge, looking down, seeing the water being pulled downwards, towards the crack in the dam. She hoped that the gum would be pulled in as well, and quickly plug the hole. She turned back around, noting the truck was in place, and the driver was struggling to get out a pump from under the truck.

Kim rushed over, Ron only seconds behind her as they helped tug the pump and tubing around, hooking it up to the truck, then shoved one end into the water, hooking the other up to the truck. Hobble watched as they get it in place, turning to some of the other policemen nearby. "Cross your fingers, gentlemen." He nodded to the teens and truck driver.

The truck driver reached his hand up, pulling down the lever, letting the gum start pouring into the water. It started slow, in a soggy, sticky mess, but as it got up to speed, it started flowing rapidly into the water. Kim had hopped up to the top of the truck, and was watching the gum from inside, noting the amount dropping rapidly. She peered over the edge of the truck, watching the water still churning in the lake; Ron had run over to the other side of the dam, peering down as well to determine if it was doing any good.

At first, nothing was happening. The water continued to gush down, through the crack she was sure lied far under the water. She grimaced to herself, wondering if maybe there wasn't enough gum, or maybe it wasn't sticky enough. She knew there could be dozens of things that prevented her plan from working like she expected. She had all but given up hope, when Ron called over to her excitedly, "KP! KP, come here!"

She vaulted off the top of the tanker, spinning and landing hard on the concrete, but not letting the impact jar her. She rushed over to her friend, looking over the side as well. She blinked, and blinked again as she watched. The water coming out of the dam had slowed. Or at least, she assumed it had.

Expanding outwards from the front of the dam was the largest bubble gum bubble she's ever seen. It was slowly inflating, the huge pink sphere already larger than she was tall and still growing. She smiled as she realized that the flood of water had already slowed considerably, otherwise the bubblegum would have burst from the gallons of water flowing into it.

Kim turned and ran her way back to the other side of the dam, looking down into the water. Her smile broadened as she saw that the churning water was calming slowly, the top of the water coming to rest a little lower than it had before the dam had cracked. As Hobble came over beside her to look down into the water, he couldn't help but chuckle. "I stand corrected, Ms Possible. I guess you can do anything, even patch a dam with bubblegum."

The teen grinned back, "I'm just glad that tanker full of gum was around when we needed it!"

X X X X

Fortunately, after plugging the dam with the gum, the experts and scientists had determined that it was relatively safe. The dam itself was still weak in the center, and emergency repairs would need to be done as soon as possible, but the concrete was no longer under risk of collapsing under the pressure of the water; and by the same token, the small towns and houses situated under the dam were no longer in dangers way.

Kim walked away from the adults still discussion the incident, moving near the railing on the far side of the dam. She smiled as she looked over the valley, noting that the water had finally stopped completely. She raised her hands up, trying to block out the sun as she looked up a bit, seeing an airplane flying over head. Almost as if realizing it had been spotted, the plane gave a little waggle, as if to thank Kim for a job well done. The teen gave a small wave, self consciously, and turned around to look at Ron. "Guess we'd better get home and finish studying."

Her friend groaned.

X X X X

Bonnie looked down at her paper, frowning. They had just finished taking the history test, and she couldn't understand her score. She hadn't studied as hard as she should, but she knew that it wouldn't matter because there had been a curve-or so she thought.

"I got a 'C'? What about the curve?"

The teacher gave a shrug at the teen. "There's only a curve based on the scores..." He waved a hand at Ron, and Bonnie watched the teen keep dancing, holding his paper high, the 100% circled in red, "And since he got the highest score..." Giving another shrug, the teacher made his way back to his desk.