Previously...
"Kim?" Ron asked from behind her.
Kim turned around to face her boyfriend, eager to talk to him until the mob of reporters and cameramen reached her. "Yeah, Ron?" she asked, noticing an awkward frown crossing his features, as though he had just copied her homework without permission. A face she had seen often in High School.
He rubbed his neck nervously, looking away. "There's been something I've been wanting to ask you, but I... I mean, I didn't get a... Well, actually I..."
"Ron?" Kim asked impatiently.
Suddenly, Rufus squeaked from the floor between them, gesturing for Ron to come down to his level. Kim was rolling her eyes as Ronknelt down to see what Rufus was holding.
After scooping the various pieces of gold jewelry into Ron's pack, the naked mole rat had kept one of the less gaudy rings to himself, and had collected one of the Cupid Diamond shards while helping the Museum workers pick up the shiny sparkles. After the day he had, he felt no regrets about it either. He placed the large diamond ring into Ron's palm and nodded with a grin.
"Hey, is that?" he asked, then looked up to show Kim. "Check it, KP. Rufus made a..."
A chorus of 'Awwww's' caused him to pause as the pair looked toward the crowd of people collected around them. "Kim Possible's getting proposed to!" someone shouted. "Who is that guy?!" asked someone else.
"Ron!" Kim gasped in surprise.
"What?!" Ron said, beginning to panic. "I wasn't... I mean, I didn't..." he stammered. Suddenly, Rufus kicked Ron's shin in irritation. "Ow! What I mean is... Uhhhhh..." He was looking up into Kim's face now, and she looked as though she wasn't sure if she should be grinning happily or sobbing.
Taking a breath, Ron continued. "Kim... KP... I feel like I've been wanting to live this moment for forever, but just couldn't find the chance. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I always wanna be your sidekick."
"Just say it already!" someone shouted from the crowd, only to be silenced with a foot stomp from Joss.
"I know we're young, poor, in college, and I know it sounds corny... but I want to be there for you until the very end. I... I want you to marry me." Ron said, his voice straining to push out the words.
Kim was moving her lips, but no sound was coming out. Instead, she frowned and nodded, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him into an embrace. Despite the efforts of the police, the Press pushed forward, surrounding the couple and asking questions that were overlapping so much as to beindecipherable.
Neither Kim nor Ron seemed to notice though as they held each other tightly. "Are you sure?" Kim whispered into Ron's ear, her tears pooling between their touching cheeks. Ron nodded. "Then, Ron Stoppable." Kim answered. "Yes. I will."
"You villains never seem to learn that goodness and hope will always triumph over evil and despair." Hego said, cautiously moving toward Mantis.
Scooping up a handful of crystal slivers, Mantis tossed them into Hego's face and rolled to his feet. As Hego turned away, Mantis leaped high, bringing a claw shaped hand down at Hego's neck. The larger man leaned back with surprising agility as Mantis swept an arm past his face.
As Mantis followed through, Hego stood straight again and clasped a hand around Mantis' neck, lifting him off of the floor in an effort to subdue him. Mantis gasped in surprise, then lifted his knees to push himself out of Hego's grasp, backflipping away before sliding across the floor in a crouch. Before Mantis could regain his footing, Hego punched the floor, the blue glow around his hands surging brightly as the crystals surrounding him ruptured and exploded in a shockwave that covered Mantis in broken shards.
"I'm not here to fight you, or anyone. I am only here to defend my world. I'm sure if we were to all join forces, this Tournament Keeper would have no choice but to rethink why we are all here." Hego said as Mantis tiredly climbed back up to his feet.
Mantis looked around at the multifaceted walls and in each surface was the reflection of a hooded man in a long robe. "Only one may pass on to the next stage of the tournament." the hooded man's words echoed through the chamber. "One must finish the other."
"That seems a bit barbaric, doesn't it?" Hego asked aloud. With a gasping breath, Mantis ground his teeth before letting out a rage filled shout. His eyes became solid black and the chitin like armor he wore began to grow long wicked spines. He reached out one hand like a claw and Hego turned in surprise to see the ghostly image of a giant praying mantis behind him, clutching one of his shoulders in one of it's massive claws. Then Mantis reached his other hand forward and before Hego could react, the shimmering insect snatched his other shoulder.
"You lose!" Mantis shouted, pulling his hands apart.
"Are you kidding? Last time I left you alone, you were kidnapped, forced to battle super ninjas, and freed an astral plane of Monkey Fist's tyranny. You honestly think I'm going to miss out on that again?"
"They're ready for you, Mr. Stoppable. Again." Kalea announced, poking her head into the room.
"Just a few minutes, Kalea!" Kim replied, and the door closed again. She still hadn't completely decided if she liked this secretary of Ron's. She was certainly older, with dark skin and hair, and an aura of confidence that Kim knew came from a career in the the shark infested corporate world. "All the no longer mystical fighters and Yohan are being trained at Yamanouchi, Mantis is in prison therapy, and the Yono is defeated." she said. "How does it feel to save the world again?"
"Now that it's done? Good." Ron admitted. "I don't think I want to go through that again though."
"I think you deserve a break, hero." she grinned, taking his face in her hands and tickling his lips with hers for a moment before pulling away again. "I haven't heard back from Wade yet if he managed to get in contact with Drakken. I know Shego wasn't fond of her family, but I figured she would still want to know about Hego."
"How'd the rest of Team Go take it?" Ron asked, suddenly sober.
"Wego was understandably shocked, though Mego is dealing with it in his own way. Last I heard, he was writing a book about HIS experiences under Hego's leadership."
"Hey, speaking of books..." Ron said, eager to change the subject. "Have you heard anything about a book I may have mysteriously written?"
"You?" Kim snorted. "Sorry, Ron. But you had a hard time in English class, never mind writing a book."
At first, Ron was going to argue, but then shrugged and conceded the point. "Ready?"
"Re..."
'Beep beep beepbeep'
Kim dug into her purse to pull out her Kimmunicator. "What's the sitch, Wade?" she asked, mentally considering how long it's been since she said it.
Wade appeared on the Kimmunicator screen, breathing heavily as he ran. The background was unrecognizable, but Joss's voice could be heard struggling in the distance. "Just got a hit on the site about the Seniors and Joss and I are kinda busy with Killigan. Can you guys cover it?"
Kim and Ron looked at each other, grins growing to match the other.
"Mr. Stoppable?" Kalea asked again, open the door to find an empty room and a scribbled note in large, child-like writing on the table. 'Off to save the world. Please take care of stuff.'
Kalea sighed. "This is going to be a regular thing, isn't it?"
The comment made Gill suddenly stop and turn. "Brothers? You mean there's more of you?" he grinned.
"Just the twins." Mego said, uncharacteristically solemn.
Shego stopped. "What?" she asked, turning.
"An invitation came for you to save the world in some kind of tournament about a week ago. Hego went in your place, and he never came back. We only got word from the Possible girl yesterday."
Shego turned back to her brother and lifted him up by his uniform. "What do you mean, Hego's gone?!"
"Twins?" Gill asked. "What can the twins do?"
"I mean he died, Shego. Taking your place, trying to save the world."
"Kim! Find my Dad! He'll know how to bring Hego back!"
The sound of Shego's voice took Kim by surprise. "Wait, what?!"
"Say good bye, Possible!" came Gill's voice one again. "This is going to hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me!" she said, this time with Bonnie's own voice.
Ron let out a laugh as the beast stumbled back with a shake of his dog-like head and roared back at him. The creature charged in anger at Ron and the man frowned, doing his best to block attacks. He dived into the cab of a car, crawling backward as Jackal Junior tore the vehicle apart. With a mighty swing of each scimitar, the Jackal cut the car in two and flung both pieces to the side as Ron rolled out, losing his grip on the Lotus Blade as he did.
He leaned over backward as another flaming scimitar narrowly missed his head, and he rolled away along the concrete meridian as Jackal Junior continued his assault. The meridian was then chopped into several pieces of burning concrete a moment after Ron stumbled away. He turned and called the Lotus Blade back to his hand, feeling the shake of the freeway pavement as Jackal Junior moved, and he raised the katana up to parry, feeling renewed strength in his arms.
Only to see the mystical blade shatter into millions of silver glowing shards as the Jackal brought his full strength down on the weapon.
Kim looked through her bangs at him with a grimace, but let it subside. "Drakken, your Helix beam. It... was working."
"You needn't act so surprised, Possible!" Drakken countered, crossing his arms as two of his vines did the same. "I am a brilliant scientist afterall, especially when I have the proper amount of time to complete my projects!"
"Whatever." Kim sighed. "Can you build another one?"
Drakken frowned and stared at her incredulously. "Build another one? Sure! Why not! Money just grows on trees, right?! Do you have any idea how much that thing cost to build!" he continued, shouting at the pair.
"Will you take a check?" Kim asked nonchalantly as she activated her wrist kimmunicator. Drakken's mouth shut instantly and he continued staring at her with wide surprised eyes.
"Let's use the card." Ron answered in a weak voice. "We'll get air miles."