PROLOGUE – THE BEGINNING OF THE END

I.

Ron leaned up against the crate and desperately tried to catch his breath. The pain in his side was unbearable and it would have stopped him from running entirely if it weren't for Kim possibly needing him by her side. The Ron Factor may have been a load of unbelievable crap, but there was still a point proven in it all. Kim did seem to have a high success ratio when he was with her in their attempts to stop evil in every which shape and form. Ron knew that if he were to ever say he helped her cause, she would come back by saying, "It's i our /i cause, Ron." That dedication to convincing Ron that he was more than he really was only reinforced the fact that she was his best friend and a finer human being there would not be found on the face of the planet.

All of these seemingly random thoughts connected by weak bridges of argument went through the brain of Ron Stoppable in a matter of seconds. It was weird how he always caught his mind wandering. Sometimes he'd wonder if he had ADD, but by the time he began reasoning his mental health, Kim was snapping him out of "la-la land". This random series of thoughts only served in tricking Ron into not keeping his guard up as he should have. From behind the crate, Shego's hands turned into swirling balls of green plasma as she struck into the wood; knowing full well that her target was hidden behind.

The sound of splintering—no, the sound of tearing wood woke Ron from his mental funk and he quickly sprung into action. Kicking off the bottom of the wooden container, Ron rolled away from the seemingly exploding box. Wood flew in various directions and by the time he looked up, Shego had jumped through and was running for him.

"This is it," thought Ron to himself. "This must be how I die. I always knew that Kim Possible would wind up getting me killed in the end." Ron attempted getting up, but found that there was a large chunk of wood buried in his calf. Looking up at the charging Shego—her right fist reaching back as if to gain momentum for the death throw ahead of her—Ron silently closed his eyes and thought with an odd sense of peace, "It's been nice Kim."

Seemingly appearing out of thin air, Kim flew into scene with legs thrashing. She threw a paralyzing kick into the green woman's side and sent her flying away from Ron. The aforementioned death-accepter opened one eye and looked up to see the girl he'd known and loved like a sister since before he could make clear memories standing before him. Like some hero on a life-size cutout movie advertisement, Kim stood before him with her hair flowing in the rushing wind. She looked like victory incarnate and a smile on her face told how proud she was of saving her friend's life.

Ron looked over at the struggling-to-stand Shego and looked back up at the teenage heroine. "WAY TO GO, KP!" His voice was buoyant and festive, despite his leg wound and the fact that he almost died before her eyes. None of the previous mattered when one took into context the delight of not having been killed. Of course, even with his bleeding leg Ron might have proved a light-hearted mess. It was just in his pre-tuned nature to be as such.

"No big Ron!" She turned her head and at that exact moment, the sun made a major stride in coming up over the horizon. The hole where the missing roof (which had once been above their heads and now lay in shambles at their feet) had once been let in the waves of gold, orange, purple and red cast off by the rising sun. Ron's jaw dropped as he gazed at the vision of utter perfection before him: Kim stood defiantly looking at him with her head cocked and a smile on her face that told him everything would be all right forever. The lights served as an aura of her beauty. Sure, there were little spots of blood on her from various cuts caused by the massive explosion from minutes before, and sure, there were tiny cuts in her mission gear that served as harbingers of imperfection; but none of it mattered. They only strengthened the sense of power that came from the stunning vision of flawlessness that was Kim Possible.

The moment came to an end when Kim turned and begin charging Shego, intent on distracting her while Ron did his thing and activated a self-destruct feature. She threw punch after punch at the antagonist who in turn blocked every single one. But Ron didn't even notice. He continued staring off into the void where Kim had once stood; caught in the moment of glimmering exquisiteness and not wanting it to come to an end. Suddenly, his thoughts seemed to be centered around KP. They always were in the first place, but never in the way they were now. Ron's consciousness was suddenly flooded with visions of him kissing the teen under the elm on which they had constructed a tree house years ago. He saw himself lifting her in his arms like that scene in "Dirty Dancing". He saw her laughing while he tickled her on a bed of roses; her giggles and laughs only drowned out by those of Ron's. And finally he saw himself standing beside Kim at what appeared to be a church altar. Everything seemed so different and new, just like the theme song to "Loveboat" said it would. And like that, Ron was confused.

Kim turned back and saw Ron sitting there, staring off into space. The sight frustrated her, but when she looked farther down, she spotted a large bloody mass on the bottom of his leg; the trail of blood leading feet away from his resting person. How she hadn't noticed before was beyond her. Kim blocked an incoming punch and turned back. "RON!"

The blond snapped out of "la-la land" and hopped to his feet. Glancing over, he saw Kim fighting Shego and remembered that he should be shutting off the latest massive destruction machine belonging to Drakken.

"Sorry KP!" He realized his blanking out had probably cost them some time.

"It's all right!" Kim dropped to her knees and swung her foot out under Shego's in an attempt to fall her. "Just hurry up!"

Ron turned from the fighting females (which any other straight guy on the face of the earth would have beaten him up for) and began running in the direction of the doomsday device.

II.

Long story short, Ron found the machine and slammed his fist down on the big, red button; ensuring its self-destruction and thus, the elimination of his latest evil lair. Drakken clawed his way out from under the rubble and started up a previously hidden escape vehicle. Shego escaped from Kim, hopped in and the two were off. Ron and Kim made their way to a rope ladder dangling from a helicopter sent by Global Justice to assist and escaped mere seconds before a tidal wave of fire wiped the location off the face of the map.

GJ medics tended to Ron's legs and bandaged up the cuts on Kim, but he almost didn't notice any sort of pain. As he stared into Kim's tired eyes, he could only keep his mind entertained on the thoughts of her beautiful form gracing his presence until the end of days; the sun would drop from the sky forever and the two would be left with the delight of holding each other in the dark. Then his ten-year-plus mental state of friendship and friendship alone kicked in.

"What are you thinking" Ron's antagonistic voice always set himself in his place.

"Have you ever just, I don't know, looked at her" As if to confirm the presence of two beings in his single body, Ron double-glanced at Kim; getting a good look at her for his other side.

"Wow. I, I, I guess I haven't." He sounded honestly confused and it startled himself.

There was a silence in his mind for five minutes before he asked, "What do I do now?" Unfortunately, there came no answer.

Kim dozed off minutes into the flight, but Ron spent the entire ride back home staring into her sleeping eyes and wondering what he was going to do about his emotions; if he was going to do anything at all in the end.