"On the Job Training"

by:  Chris Chestnut

Dr. Froobie Bates, Uncle Buford, Collie Squadron (c) Robert Baer Jr.
Jolt, Laura, Roughhouse, Blaze, Jamboree (c) Chris Chestnut
Master, Groomer (c) WB
DJ (c) Jake Williams

Dr. Froobie Bates loved the thought of working with the Road Rovers.  She 
couldn't wait to start her new job at the school.  Of course, anything was 
better than her last job at Gen-Par Industries.  She suppressed a shudder as 
she thought of what could have happened to her if Buford's Collie Squadron 
hadn't rescued her.  Dr. Bates is a tall, slim, African-American woman around 
5'2" tall.  She was wearing a light blue shirt and skirt, with her lab coat 
over it.  She continued to pack her things.  She would be moving soon, to live 
at the school, where the Master had given her a new job as a teacher.  'I need 
someone to actually teach the kids.  I try my best, but I usually get called 
away during class and Laura has to take over.'  Those had been his exact words. 
Of course, after all they had done for her, she couldn't turn him down.  And 
plus, she was going to get the opportunity to examine these 'mutants' 
first-hand.  Not that that was her only reason, but it would still be 
interesting.  She couldn't wait...

Jolt sat on the front steps of the school, alone, in the hot sun, awaiting the 
arrival of their new teacher.  'How did I get roped into this?' he thought to 
himself.  For some odd, inexplicable reason, his friends and teammates had 
named him as goodwill ambassador to Mrs. Bates.  'Dr. Bates,' he reminded 
himself.  According to the Master, Dr. Bates had worked at NASA with Buford 
Lovejoy, better known as Uncle Buford.  They ran into each other at a reunion, 
and Buford discovered that she was working for Gen-Par Industries.  She did 
some snooping and got caught, and Buford sent his Collie Squadron to rescue her.  
'And it's a good thing he did, too.   Parvo doesn't kid around with traitors.  
I should know.'  He stood up in the hot sun and walked over to the fountain in 
the front yard.  He sat down on one of the two steps leading up to the pond 
where the water from the fountain splashed down.  He cupped his hands and drank 
some of the water, then splashed some of it on his face.  He hated the desert.  
'Of all the places to put a school,' the cabbie had said that first day.  Of 
course, Jolt had told him that it was a scientific school and it required a 
certain amount of isolation to ensure experimentation in controlled 
environments.  And he had said it like he had known what he was talking about.  
Jolt glanced up and saw a car coming up the drive.  He stood up as it pulled up 
in front of the school.  He walked over to the driver side window and waited 
for the car's engine to shut off and the door to open.  It did neither of these 
things.  Instead, the window rolled down and a pair of brown eyes stared out at 
him.  

Groomer:  Hello, dearie.  

Jolt:  Groomer!

Suddenly, the back doors flung open and two cano-mutants jumped out and began 
to move towards him.  He tried to attack them with a lightning bolt, but it 
didn't seem to affect them.  

Groomer:  Remember that rubber armor from before dear?  I got some more made up, 
since it worked so well and all.  Jolt swallowed hard as the two cano-mutants 
approached him, helpless to stop their advance...

An hour later, another car comes up the drive.  It's Dr. Bates car.  She pulled 
up to the front steps of the school and got out.  Dr. Bates stood staring up at 
the two-story building.  'Wow.  It's huge.'  She moved toward the door, but 
stopped when she heard someone yell.  

Jolt (voice):  Dr. Bates!  Look out!  Get away from here!  Get help!

Groomer (voice):  Dr. Bates?  That woman who was working for us?  She betrayed 
us!  Get her!

Dr. Bates turned to run from the door, but then two cano-mutants burst through 
the door.  Dr. Bates ran to her car, with the two mutants right behind her.  
She jumped in and slammed the door, just as one of the cano-mutants tried to 
rip the passenger door off.  The other began to bang on her door.  But Dr. 
Bates took off, and they went tumbling across the pavement.  She sped out of 
the drive and onto the main road, heading for town...

The two cano-mutants entered the school and approached the Groomer, who had 
Jolt tied up and gagged on the floor, with a gun to his head.  She eyed the 
troops, obviously angry.

Groomer:  Well?  Where is she?

Cano-mutant:  She took off in her car...

Groomer:  You IDIOTS!  If she makes it to town, she might be able to find his 
little playmates.  How do you think General Parvo is going to feel knowing that 
he had Shepherd's school right in his hand and he lost it because of one human 
woman?  Find her now.  

Cano-mutants:  Yes, ma'am.

The two leave.  Groomer looks down at Jolt.  

Groomer:  You better pray that they find that woman, or else this will become 
a hostage crisis.  And you know I have very little patience.  And just so you 
know for sure,...

She points the gun at a vase on a coffee table.  She fires and the vase 
explodes, leaving a bullet hole in the wall.  

Groomer:  ...This isn't a laser gun.  So you can't absorb it.  

She points the gun back at his head.  Jolt gets a worried look on his face.  

'Dr. Bates, you better find the others, and quick, or else it's all over for 
me and the school...'

Dr. Bates tore down the street searching for anyone who she thought could help 
her.  She had no idea who she could ask or what she could do.  

'I was totally unprepared for this,' she thought.  'But I've gotta get help.  
There's at least one person in there and he sounded like he was in trouble.  
So it's up to me to save him.'  She sped around another corner and passed by 
an electronics store, where a young, blonde-haired woman was going to her car.  
Laura Shepherd had just completed another successful shopping trip when she 
saw the car comes flying around the corner.  

'They're going way too fast,' she thought.  She tried to see what was wrong by 
probing the driver's mind.  

Laura:  Calm down!  What's wrong?  

She probed deeper, and discovered the identity of the driver and the source of 
her distress.  Meanwhile, the driver was already pulling over, having realized 
that the telepathic cry had come from nearby.  Laura ran over to Dr. Bates's 
car.  

Laura:  Dr. Bates, I'm Laura Shepherd, William Shepherd's daughter.  Let's go 
we don't have much time.   

Laura climbed into the passenger seat, while Dr. Bates just stared for a moment.  

Dr. Bates:  How do I know I can trust you?  

Laura:  Do you know anyone else who can talk in your head?

Dr. Bates:  Not really.  

Laura:  All right then, let's go.

The two cano-mutants enter the school.  Groomer is waiting, with Jolt still 
tied up, but now to a chair.  One of the cano-mutants notices this and looks at 
the Groomer questioningly.  

Groomer:  He started squirming.  What did you find?

Cano-mutant:  She got away.  We couldn't find her anywhere.  

Groomer:  That's just great.  I oughtta have both of ya neutered.  

The cano-mutants shudder.  Suddenly, there's a sound from outside.  

Groomer:  What's that?  

One of the cano-mutants goes to the window.  He looks out, but sees nothing.  

Cano-mutant:  I don't see anything...

The sound grows louder and can now be recognized as the roar of an engine.  

Groomer:  Who's out there?

Cano-mutant:  I'm tellin' ya, I don't see anythin'...

Just then, Dr. Bates car comes crashing through the front door.  One of the 
cano-mutants is immediately taken down.  The other and the Groomer are knocked 
to the ground.  The car stops inches from the chair Jolt is tied to.  Laura 
leaps from the passenger side, while Dr. Bates slowly opens her door as well.  

Groomer:  No wonder he didn't see anything.  That little mind witch was masking 
them from his sight.  

Laura:  Dr. Bates, get Jolt loose from that chair!

Dr. Bates:  Uh...right!

Laura moves towards the cano-mutant, who is beginning to stir.  Her eyes flash 
and a piece of what was once the wall flies into him, knocking him into the 
far wall.  Dr. Bates reaches Jolt and begins to untie him, when she hears the 
sound of a gun being cocked, and the pressure of the muzzle of a gun on the 
back of her head.  

Groomer:  Shepherd!  Freeze, or the good doctor here will meet with an 
unfortunate accident.  

Laura:  Let her go!  

Groomer:  I dinnae think so, dearie.

Laura:  Don't make me use force.


Groomer:  And what are ye gonna do?  Toss some rocks at me?

Laura:  How about mind wipe you, "dearie"?

Groomer:  Wha...?

Laura's eyes flash and the Groomer stands straight up.  Her face goes blank and 
she looks straight ahead.  

Laura:  Now, give your gun to Dr. Bates.

Groomer hands her gun to Froobie.

Laura:  Good.  Now you will go back to your home, and you will remember none of 
this, or ever even finding the school.

Groomer leaves through the hole in the wall.  She gets in her car, and leaves.  
Dr. Bates is stunned.

Dr. Bates:  Wow.  That was amazing.  

Laura:  That was nothing.  You should see what I can do when I get ticked off.  

Dr. Bates unties Jolt and the three of them begin to survey the damage.  

Laura:  Well, Dad won't be happy, but he'll be able to have it fixed up.  And 
I'm sure DJ and Exile can fix your car Dr. Bates.  

Dr. Bates:  What will happen to the two cano-mutants?  

Jolt:  Don't worry about them.  Prof. Hubert will fix 'em up and the Master 
will make sure they get nice homes.  

Dr. Bates and Jolt unload her stuff and get it up to her room.  Dr. Bates and 
Laura get a taxi and go back to town to get Laura's jeep, while Jolt spends the 
rest of the day cleaning up the main hall and making arrangements to have the 
repairs made.

That night, Dr. Bates is in her room, sitting at her desk writing.  

"Dear Journal, Today was a really odd day.  It was my first day at Shepherd 
University, but Jolt was the only one here.  The other three kids, Blaze, 
Roughhouse, and Jamboree were all off on some mission.  The Road Rovers were, 
too.  Anyway, I came to the school and before I even opened the door, he yells 
to me to run and get help.  Then a couple of those cano-mutants smashed through 
the door and chased me down the driveway.  Luckily, I met Laura, and she and I 
saved Jolt.  We crashed my car, though, but DJ is fixing it up.  Later, I met 
the rest of the kids.  They all seem like a fine group of people.  Tomorrow I 
actually start teaching classes.  I can't wait.  I think I'm gonna like it 
here...  Yours,    Dr. Froobie Bates"

THE END