4. On the other hand, if Shipwreck and/or Clutch think its a bad idea for fun, listen to them.

This rule was quite a shock to most of the Joes upon its creation. Seriously, it was so far out of left field even Snake-Eyes didn't see it coming.

"You know Clutch, it's your fault that everyone on the base is still laughing at us!", Shipwreck snarled.

"Hey it's just as much your fault, 'cause you helped me build that slingshot! And I never even got my turn!", Clutch grumbled.

The terrible twosome were arguing over the human slingshot incident, which had earned Falcon a javelin to his butt, landed Torpedo, Grunt, Dial-Tone on KP duty, and earned themselves the rather embarrassing punishment of standing in corner timeout in Stalker's office. To add insult to injury, Cover Girl had walked in with some reports for Stalker. She then took pictures and sent them to everyone at the Pit. As a result, they were now the base laughingstocks for what seemed to be forever.

"Well, with our dumb luck, everyone will be laughing at us until our enlistment periods are up." Shipwreck sighed.

The two were walking near the airstrip when they heard what sounded like a screeching bottle rocket. Curiosity piqued, they followed the sound until they found its origin.

Their jaws dropped when they saw what was happening; Alpine, Bazooka, Tripwire, and Ripcord were fooling around with compressed oxygen cylinders. The four had duct taped the cylinders to four wheel mover's dollies and were riding on them. Ripcord and Tripwire chopped the valves off with axes, sending Alpine and Bazooka down a straightaway.

"WHOOO-HAAAA!!!!", They screamed happily as they rode the cylinders at breakneck speed.

"Whoa, wait, whats this?", asked Shipwreck.

"Hey 'Wreck, hey Clutch.", said Ripcord, "We're just havin' a little drag race."

"With oxygen cylinders?", asked Clutch.

"Yup." said Bazooka as he and Alpine had rejoined the group.

"ARE YOU GUYS NUTS?!?!?!", Shipwreck shouted.

"Aww come on, it's fun!", said Alpine with a grin.

Clutch shook his head, "Roller coasters are fun. Car races are fun. Hell, getting shot at by COBRA is kinda fun. This however, is completely stupid!"

"Says the guys who set up a human slingshot.", quipped Tripwire.

"That was totally different, and you know it!", groaned Shipwreck.

"Whatever." , grunted Bazooka, "Your turn guys."

Tripwire and Ripcord straddled the cylinders and got ready to ride.

"Oh boy, now what do we do?", Clutch whispered.

"Run and tell.", gulped Shipwreck.

Meanwhile, Duke and Flint were in the rec room throwing darts at a photo of Cobra Commander.

"Sorry about your brother, Duke." Flint said.

"Pfft, the way I see it, that dimwit had it coming for listening to Clutch and Shipwreck.", grunted Duke.

Flint's face darkened at the mention of the VAMP jockey and the sailor. "I only wish I could have dreamed up a better punishment for those two knuckleheads than Stalker did.", he muttered.

"Frankly, I think that Cover Girl taking that picture of their punishment added to their humiliation.", chuckled Duke.

They had just wrapped up their game when Shipwreck and Clutch barreled in and almost ran into them.

Speak of the devils... thought Duke as he and Flint glared daggers at the two.

"What do you two idiots want?!!", Flint snarled through gritted teeth.

"We were out by the tarmac and we saw Ripcord, Tripwire, Alpine, and Bazooka riding on compressed air cylinders, so we came to tell one of you guys!", Clutch yelled as fast as he could.

"Wait, what?", said Duke as he blinked.

"You're kidding, right?", asked Flint.

"No Flint, we mean it. They're actually riding on the cylinders, and shooting down the airstrip! We tried to tell them it was a bad idea, but they wouldn't listen!", added Shipwreck.

Duke and Flint looked at each other for a second then took off running for the tarmac, with Clutch and Shipwreck not far behind them.

They arrived just in time to see disaster strike.

Bazooka's cylinder lost a wheel, and he fell off, unhurt.

Unfortunately, the cylinder kept going straight into the path of a fuel tanker carrying a belly full of jet fuel.

The greenshirt driving the tanker let out a most decidedly unmanly scream as he bailed out of the truck, which went careening out of control and headed straight for a row of parked Skystrikers!

Duke's eyes widened as he yelled, "OH FU-"

KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!

The truck exploded along with four Skystrikers, five Dragonflies, and two Tomahawks!

To say that Duke and Flint were pissed was an understatement.

"See Duke, we came and told you so nobody would automatically assume it was us!", said Clutch.

Almost as if to prove his point, General Hawk's voice bellowed across the tarmac, "DAMMIT CLUTCH, SHIPWRECK WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU TWO DONE TO MY BASE!!!

"I see your point.", Duke growled.

Ripcord, Tripwire, Alpine, and Bazooka were getting chewed out hard by Hawk, Duke, Flint, and Beach Head. When Duke gave the explanation that Clutch and Shipwreck had tried to warn them not to do it, they got chewed out even harder.

"Shipwreck and Clutch told you four it was a bad idea! That alone should have given you a clue, but noooo, you wanted to ride the cylinders! What the hell were you thinking?!?!?!", Hawk barked.

As the four continued to get yelled at, Shipwreck, Clutch, Barbecue, and Lifeline were watching from an upper walkway.

"Thank God no one was hurt by that explosion.", said Lifeline.

"Yeah, that was some fire, good thing we had that crash tender to put it out.", added Barbecue.

"Besides, this is pretty funny when we ain't the ones gettin' chewed out, eh 'Wreck?", chuckled Clutch.

"Took the words right outta my mouth, Clutch.", grinned Shipwreck.

As for Ripcord, Tripwire, Alpine, and Bazooka's punishment, they spent the next month cleaning every military vehicle and aircraft on the base, as well as the motor pool and hangar buildings. But first, Hawk had to apologize to Shipwreck and Clutch for assuming that the two were responsible. They happily accepted, and he went to his office. As he sat behind his desk, he couldn't help but chuckle as he thought about the situation.

"Shipwreck and Clutch trying to prevent a stupid accident, sign of the damn apocalypse.", he snickered.

Sorry for the late update, with work and the holidays I've sorta had my hands full. But, good news, I'll be on vacation in two weeks so I'll try to give you guys some more updates!

Up next, Rule 5!