Chapter 1: One of them falls
Kim and Ron were on the tail of Monkey Fist who was seeking another monkey temple of supposed huge power when they managed to catch up with him on his way over Mt. Olympus when they came across a very ancient temple of some unknown origin.
Kim fires her grappling hairdryer and it grabs at one of the temple's pillars at a low angle right in front of Monkey Fist. He was so intent upon escaping that he failed to see it and trips on the line, causing him to fall face first into the dirt and vines that had grown to overrun the temple floors.
The moment that all three had entered the temple grounds, a new pair of eyes started to watch with interest. No one noticed the new pair of eyes, as they were eyes made of stone, as it was a stone statue to represent some god-like person that the person was supposed to represent.
Monkey Fist gets entangled in the vines for a few moments, which is all that it takes for her and Ron to come within 5 feet of Monkey Fist. He springs to his feet and shouts, "No! You won't stop me from reaching Olympian Monkey God and gaining his powers so that I will become the undisputed Monkey ruler of the world!"
Ron says, "Man, that is just sick and wrong dude! You want to be a Monkey that swims all the time? Just imagine the stink!"
Both Monkey Fist and Kim give him a look of "I think you have the wrong idea" while the new mysterious eyes watch and the stone face turns into a smile, as it seems amused by Ron.
Kim says, "Ron, I don't think he wants monkey powers to be able to swim..." with Ron saying then, "Why not? Have you ever seen a monkey swimming Kim? I don't think it'd be a pretty picture."
Another pair of eyes opens on another god-like statue and it thinks, "Monkey Powers... feh, what an absolute waste."
Kim shakes her head, "Ron, we'll talk about this later. First lets capture Monkey Fist." with Ron nodding and he says, "Gotcha KP." before he then gets goes through some monkey kung fu moves.
Monkey Fist growls and does some moves as well before he leaps forward in an attack with Ron crying out, "KP!" even as she moves into position and counters his attack with her own.
The two stone statues watch as Kim battles it out and manages to impress one of the stone statues with her speed and ferocity in battle. The battle finally ends when Kim manages to kick Monkey Fist into one of the watching stone statues, which cracks in half due to the impact and half to the great age that it was in. The top half falls forward and pins Monkey Fist helplessly to the temple floors unharmed.
Ron shouts, "Boo-Yah! We did it Kim! We captured Monkey Fist!" He runs up to her just as she smiles and says, "Yeah, and now to deliver him to the local authorities before we head home."
Suddenly all three are surprised when the statue that was pinning Kim starts to move, "Bravo, bravo! I was very impressed by your fighting Kim. I have not seen such skill or fire in a woman in a millennia."
Ron leaps back and says, "Kim! That statue is speaking to us!" He points at the statue as the head tilts back with long-settled dust falling off and a pair of eyes as well as a lecherous grin could be seen on the guy's face.
Kim says, "Ron, get over here!" as she gets into a stance. Kim sees that Ron gets over to her right side quickly with Rufus peeking from Ron's pocket before diving back in and shivering in fear.
The statue laughs and says, "Now, now... there is no need for that. After all, why would I want to harm my future bride?"
Kim and Ron both say, "WHAT?" very loudly before Kim recovers and says, "I am not going to marry you, I don't even know you!"
Ron says, "Yeah, besides you are a statue and she's... well, human!"
The statue laughs loudly and says, "Oh, is that all? I can fix that!" and vines attached to the statue suddenly change and grow until they form a figure much like the statue before it broke and then glows an eerie yellow for a few moments before it turns into a man dressed in very old, flowing clothes that seemed to move on their own as if they were alive.
Kim, Ron and Monkey Fist all looked at the statue-now-human that now stood before them. The man grinned with a very superior air about him as if he considered the people in front of him as gnats.
Monkey Fist shouts out, "Who are you? WHAT are you?" as he tries to struggle from under the statue but fails to do much more than stir up some dust.
The man laughs again with a definite evil tone to it before he says, "Why, I am that woman's soon-to-be husband and you two will become our faithful servants." He looks at Kim right in the eyes and where he expected to see fear, he saw courage, determination and just a little bit of anger.
The man then looks at Ron and sees surprisingly the same thing within his eyes despite how Ron looked on the surface. He frowns and says, "I don't like how you're looking at me servant. You would do best to lose that look I see in your eyes."
Kim says, "Leave Ron out of this, whoever you are. We are just here for Monkey Fist and then we'll leave."
The man looks at Kim with anger in his eyes before he says, "No my dear wife, you are not going anywhere. These two shall become the first of our many loyal subjects that will wait on us hand and foot, doing whatever we wish. Even disposing of them without a second thought when the time comes."
Kim's eyes narrow coldly at the man in front of her as she understood his meaning while Ron glanced at Monkey Fist to see his reaction which was understandably of fear and as he brings his eyes back to Kim by his side he sees in the background another stone statue that looked very much different from the one threatening them as it seemed to shed a tear.
Ron's attention was brought back to Kim when she says, "Listen you, I don't know who you think you are or even what you are, but I will choose who I want to marry and it won't be you!" The last word was spoken with anger on a level that Ron hadn't heard often and he'd been Kim's best friend for nearly his entire life.
The man smiles but it isn't a kind smile, but rather a cold, unforgiving one as he says, "I never said I needed your permission to marry you. You will become my subservient wife, and meet my every need in the bedchambers for all time."
Kim is surprised at first and then she gets so angry that her hands were trembling a little before she then says, "There is NO WAY I am going to marry you!
Ron says, "Kim, I think we should get out of here... I'm getting some seriously bad vibes from him."
Monkey Fist says, "What about me? I want out of here!" He struggles again even as the man says, "You want out of there little monkey? Very well, I can't have you dusting my statue off if you're trapped now can I?"
The man walks up to the statue and picks up the top half with a single hand and grabs at Monkey Fist with his other hand, lifting him up off his feet. He grins as he watches Monkey Fist struggle to escape the powerful hand even as he sets the statue up where it had once been.
Kim shouts, "Let go of him!" while Monkey Fist says, "Please good sir! Let me go!"
The man frowns and says, "Is this any way to talk to your master? I am a godling and as such, I deserve respect!" He lifts Monkey Fist up higher and stares into his eyes, seeing that he was once a man who had power somewhat like himself but somewhere along the line, he'd become insane with the idea that monkeys could deliver him to ultimate power.
Monkey Fist shivers as feels his soul being probed forcibly and he says, "Master? Godling? What kind of godling are you?" which only elicits a big feral smile from the godling and he says, "Why, I am the godling called Atheus, the bastard godling."
Kim thinks, "He's got that right... what a bastard." before she says, "Just put him down Atheus!"
Atheus says, "You want him down my wife? This will make you happy?" which makes Kim grit her teeth and say, "Yes, very..." while Ron watches, unsure what to say or do. Ron knew that the godling would be serious trouble and he wanted to keep Kim from getting into any kind of physical scrap with him after seeing how he picked up a heavy statue with one hand so effortlessly.
Atheus laughs and flings Monkey Fist over his shoulder as if he were a bunched up piece of paper being aimed for the trash can and he doesn't even watch as Monkey Fist goes flying high into the sky until he disappears.
Kim shouts, "Monkey Fist!" and takes a step or two before she realizes that Monkey Fist is beyond even the range of her grappling gun. She yells at Atheus, "What did you do that for? All I wanted was for him to be put down safely!"
Atheus seems to grow menacingly as he says, "I did put him down, just now here. I have put him down at the small down at the base of this mountain."
He stares into Kim's eyes and still sees the defiance and fire within them, wondering how she could still be defiant after seeing such power. In the old days, just forming out of vines would have been enough to get almost any woman and man to worship at his feet. He then says, "Don't worry my pet, he will survive. After all, what good is a worshipper for us if they don't survive?"
A part of Kim was still relieved that Monkey Fist would survive while another part was still furious at Atheus for treating a human life so carelessly. She knew she could never bow down to his will or become his wife, as he seemed to already think she was. She wanted to go up to him and punch him but the signals that she was receiving from Ron was telling her not to and despite her strong feelings, she knew she couldn't leave Ron to the mercy of the maniac.
Kim growls, "I won't be your wife, EVER! You disregard human life to a level that absolutely disgusts me! I could never even think about being with a man or godling or whatever you might be that doesn't put any kind of value to a human life!"
Atheus's face becomes very dark and the sky starts to darken as clouds rapidly approach and form right over his head. It isn't long before the clouds, which rumbled with lightning constantly completely blocked out all the sunlight for a couple of miles in every direction.
Atheus snarls, "You! You are a MERE MORTAL WOMAN! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO TALK TO YOUR GODLING LIKE THAT! I AM YOUR MASTER!" He raises his right hand at Kim, pointing at her as he shouts at her and Rufus peeks out at the shouting godling before leaping out of the pocket to go hide under a stone pillar that had long ago fallen on its side.
Ron moves closer to Kim and puts his hand on her shoulder as he says, "KP, I don't think it is such a good idea to anger a godling." He looks worried at the storm that thunders over their head in a most violent way while Kim appears not to even notice or if she did, she didn't care as she stared angrily at the godling.
Atheus growls and says, "You should learn your place woman! And if you won't, then I have no further need of you!" He brings all his fingers up together just as lightning leaps down from the clouds above and circles his hand before forming into an energy ball at his fingertips. The energy ball leaps forth directly at Kim with all of this happening in a flash of lightning.
Ron had been very nervous about the storm over their head and thus when he saw a bolt coming downward, he assumed that it would be for Kim and yells, "KP! Look out!" as he jumps to protect Kim and uses his body to shield Kim while trying to knock her down so that they both are missed but the energy ball strikes Ron even he manages to knock Kim down.
Ron cries out in pain as the energy courses through his back, with his whole body convulsing even as Kim lands on her tush. He can see Kim's face with her eyes wide open as the light of the energy ball dances all around his body violently being reflected off her face and what was worse for Ron was that he could see her the way he looked as reflected of her eyes.
Finally the energy dissipates and Ron can move again, letting him fall forward even as Kim moves quickly to catch him.
Kim cries out "Ron!" with great fear in her voice as he lands in her arms and she lowers him gently even as she tries to avoid the burned spots on his body where the lightning from the energy ball as it danced around him. But the problem was that there were so many burned spots, and what worried Kim the most was the one spot where Ron had been struck on his back where there was a very large, black, burned spot that reeked of charred flesh.
Kim lowers Ron down the ground as Ron weakly says, "Kim... are you...all right?"
Kim's eyes swell with tears as she looks at Ron and says, "Save your strength Ron... don't talk." She runs her fingers through Ron's burnt hair, moving aside the blacken parts of Ron's yellow, messy hair to show his face. She gulps a little at he sight of how Ron looks and the tears start to flow heavily down her cheeks to land on his face in her lap with the charred back facing Atheus.
Ron says, "I'm... glad you're... safe KP..." He looks up at her as he feels her tears running onto his face. He weakly says as he can feel his body starting to give, "Don't cry Kim... just... keep doing... what you do... and...Nnnngh... I've never been more... proud to be... your friend... and partner."
Atheus laughs evilly and loudly before he then says, "Do you see what happens to those who defy me? They all suffer! Now, you will become my wife or others that you know will suffer the same fate!" Suddenly he gets an idea as he watches Kim look up from Ron with her tears flying off her chin and sees that her eyes are showing even more defiance than before. He wonders if using her friend would be the only way to get her to submit as he can tell he means a lot to her.
Atheus starts to use his power as Ron says weakly, "I... l-love... you...KP" before he closes his eyes watches as Kim cries out, "No! RON! Please stay with me!" but Ron's body goes limp just as a crystal orb appears in his hand and because normal mortals such as Kim can't see spirits, but godlings can he grins as he watches how Ron's spirit is sucked from the air the moment his body surrenders and Ron flows into the orb, leaving him trapped in a tiny form.
Atheus watches Kim wrap her arms around Ron's charred body, crying loudly and hard with her red hair falling over Ron's face as she rests her forehead upon his. Her shoulders shake as she continues to cry and he turns his eyes away from Kim to look into the orb where Ron is waking up in his uninjured form for his spirit and he starts to look around.
Atheus says, "I can restore your friend back to life, but only if you agree to be my wife and do only whatever I say, wherever and whenever I say." He has a tone in his voice that suggested as to how he would use her and Kim knows from the way he has talked to her before.
Kim seems to not even hear him right away as she holds onto the charred body of her best friend for what seems like a long time before her shoulders finally stop shaking. She looks raises her head up, still not looking at Atheus as she looks down at Ron's face and to her with his eyes closed, it looks like he is just sleeping to her.
Atheus rolls his eyes as he gets impatient while the other stone statue shares in Kim's tears as its down tears flow heavily down the stone face. He shakes the orb in his hand, causing Ron to bounce around it and cry out, "Hey! Quit that!"
The sound of Ron's voice causes her head to snap up so quickly that even Atheus from the distance from which he stood at could feel a breeze.
Atheus grins wickedly as he says, "Finally, I have your attention my wife." He shakes the orb again just a little, which causes Ron to stumble around within the orb and then lean against one of the sides before he says, "I'm ok Kim! Just a little shaken up!" Before Ron finally notices that Kim is holding what appears to be his lifeless body.
Ron cries out, "Wah-What is my body doing over there? KP! What is going on?"
Kim is unable to answer for a long pause before she says, "Ron...? Is that really you?"
Atheus says, "Of course it is your friend! At the moment of when his body gave out, I created this spirit orb and sucked his very soul into it! As of right now, he is MY unwilling guest and shall remain unharmed as long as you obey me."
Kim gently lays her friend's body down onto the ground and stands up, her eyes burning with such fire and determination that it makes Atheus pause for a moment, wondering if she intended to try to destroy him for what he did to her friend.
Atheus recovers and says with such smugness, "I'd think twice before attacking me. Your friend still has no body to go back to even if he were released somehow, but that is impossible by any mere mortal such as yourself."
Ron says from the orb, "Dude, check her name. She's Kim Possible! She can do anything!"
Kim smiles a little at hearing Ron say those words even as her eyes were still very wet from all her tears. She knew her eyes were going to be red from the way they were starting to feel a little sore already, but none of that mattered if she could get her friend back.
Atheus looks down at Ron and laughs, "Foolish one, your spirit can't be released safely by anything less than another godling or god such as my self or by my own destruction and since I'm immortal that too is out of your friend's reach!"
Kim shouts, "If you're so damn powerful, then lets see you restore his body and return his soul back to it!" She points at Atheus and hopes that he will just to prove his point to her but instead she sees Atheus laugh loudly.
Atheus stops laughing and then grins evilly at Kim, "Oh, nice try little one! If I were a foolish godling like my sister, that might have actually worked! But to prove I'm not ALL bad, I will grant you half of your request."
The clouds above Atheus's head quickly part and sunlight starts to shine through finally as he raises his free hand above his head and what appears to be a golden, shining orb of light starts to collect into the palm of his hand.
Kim steps aside, watching closely what Atheus is doing before he fires a golden beam from the golden light in his hand which covers Ron's entire, lifeless body and makes it jump from the silent impact.
Kim chews on her lower lip as she watches and glances at Ron in Atheus's other hand. She notices that Ron seems unharmed at the moment and that he is watching both his body and Kim.
The golden light makes everything about the charred body go in reverse, healing everything; even the clothes flow back over the body after the injuries disappear. Leaving Ron's soulless body looking completely healed as the light then goes back into the light that was in Atheus's hand.
Atheus lowers his hand down to his chest level and grins wickedly as he says, "Your friend now has a body to return to and only when you agree to be my wife, will it ever have a soul again." He closes his hand quickly, extinguishing the golden light quickly, leaving his face briefly dark as Kim's eyes adjusted.
Kim takes a few steps towards him before Ron cries out, "Kim! Don't do it!" and she stops, but her hands clench into a ball, wishing that she could force the cocky godling to restore Ron back to the way he was before.
Atheus says, "I can see you need some time to decide. Come back here within a week with your decision. Either come back here to become my wife, or don't show up and leave your friend's soul with me to torment and play with for all eternity."
Atheus laughs loudly and evilly before Kim starts to run at him very quickly to kick the orb out of his hand, hoping that Ron would forgive her but was betting that he'd understand.
Ron yells, "KP!" just before Atheus swings his hand and a blast of light comes forth, taking both Kim and the body of Ron with her down to the village where Monkey Fist had landed and apparently escaped from.
Kim pulls out her Kimmunicator and punches a button on it rather hard, but it was built to take on a wide variety of abuse from just about anything her missions could throw at her so it absorbed the punch without incident.
Meanwhile, the statue that had seen it all was still crying for Kim over what had happened and wished that she could have helped. She hoped that when Kim came back, she would be able to help Kim in some way instead of being stuck in the stone statue, much like her brother had been before it was broken and thus freeing him.
Moments later, Wade shows up on the screen with a smile as usual on his face and says, "Hey Kim, what's up? Did you manage to stop Monkey Fist?"
The sight of Kim's face is all that it takes to stop Wade and make his face drop before he says, "Kim, what's wrong?"
Kim says, "Wade, I want you to make this TOP priority. I want you to forgo sleeping if you have to, but I want all information that you can give me on a bastard godling who goes by the name of Atheus."
Wade feels a chill go down his spine as he hears Kim's voice and says, "What's going on Kim? Why the sudden urgency?"
Kim turns the screen away from her face to where Ron's body lay on the ground and says, "We've got a soul to get back from godling..." She then turns the Kimmunicator back to face her and even though her face was hard, her eyes were very sad to the very heart and soul of what made Kim.
Wade nods and says, "I'll do my best for you Kim, and don't you worry. We'll get Ron's soul back."
Kim says, "We need a plan before the week is up. Or I just might have to make the hardest decision ever..." She looks away from the Kimmunicator to gaze down at Ron's body and it wasn't hard for Wade to figure out that the Atheus must have given Kim some sort of ultimatum.
Kim then looks back to Wade and says, "Wade, I'm going to need a ride home for the two of us."
Wade types quickly and says, "Ok, I've got a ride set up to pick you both up in twenty minutes and I'll be sure to let you know the moment I dig up anything on that guy you asked about."
Kim says, "Please and Thank you Wade." before she switches off the Kimmunicator.
Kim kneels down to pick up Ron and once she is standing, she turns her head to look at the mountain as she wonders if she can defeat such a powerful godling and win back her friend's freedom.
AN: Well, I hope you all enjoy my latest story. This one just popped into my head one day while I was working at something and listening to (what else) KP music to keep myself going. Anyway, the godling Atheus is quite the mean guy huh? I actually had to tone him down for rating's sake. He is an original creation of mine so don't go googling for him and his sister. I was actually tempted to draw him standing where he was with ron in the orb, and Kim's back visible so as to have it from Kim's perspective but I never got around to it so if any artists want to, please go ahead... hint,hint. lol! Oh, and one last thing... What do you think Kim should have to do? Marry Atheus? Leave Ron to the mercies of Atheus by not marrying? or some other third choice? I know which one I'd choose if I were Kim, but what would you choose?