Disclaimer: I own nothing of Kim Possible.
Life as a Strawberry
By: Imyoshi
Ron would be lying if he told himself the scene didn't bother him.
But he didn't show any sign it did and waited patiently behind for Kim to finish like usual.
Besides... he was use to it.
"So tell us about..." He drowned out the overly cheery reporter, instead to choose to silently reminisce his actions only half an hour ago in the lair of Professor Dementor.
…
In all it started out as another typical mission...
…
Two teen heroes fall through from the ventilation shaft, landing within the heart of Professor Dementor's mountain lair. Both find the evil villain tinkering away at the stolen tech, fidgeting with the control panel on a catwalk above their heads.
Upon hearing their entrance, Dementor grins and places the device down beside his foot, ready to deal with Team Possible.
"Ah! Kim Possible and her friend whose name I cannot recall! Welcome to my lair! Please make yourselves at home. Can I get you anything? Cocoa, water, you're complete and total annihilation?!"
"We'll take the Atom Inducer if you don't mind?" Kim smirked.
"Yea! And maybe some snacks if you have any?" Ron smiled.
"Oh, sorry I ran out of zee trail mix, you'll just have to make do with these!" he yells.
The steel floor beneath their feet opens with half a dozen HenchCo henchmen running out from hidden compartments and towards the duo. Kim jumping into action prepares her stance, ready to fight the overly large men.
"Ron! Go grab the Atom Inducer! I'll handle these guys!" she ordered, jumping onto the chest of one henchman to use his body to gain momentum to knee the other beside him.
"On it KP!"
…
... and just like all typical missions it seemed that Ron always got the short end of the stick...
…
Clutching the device under his arm, Dementor rubs his chin in question, "Ah the sidekick whose name I still cannot recall."
"It's Ron. Ron Stoppable?" he says, again.
"Eh, sorry. It does not ring any of zee bells." He answers, staring quizzically.
Ron sighs, pushing aside a worn out knot in his chest. "Whatever look, it's fine. Now can I please have the Atom Inducer? It's Naco Wednesday at Bueno Nacho today and I would like to finish this soon."
Dementor laughs evilly, "You think asking a super villain back something they stole would make them give it back to you?"
"It could happen," he defends.
"Sure it could... hmm? Sorry, what was your name again?"
Ugh, "It's Ron Stoppable!" he yells.
…
... sometimes it seemed he didn't get the short end...
…
"Ron did you get the Atom Inducer?" Kim asks, flipping over a henchman before leg sweeping the colossal man down. She sees him running across the catwalk and towards the control panel of Dementor's lab with the device in his hands and a very angry Dementor on his tail.
"Come back here and give me zee device! You do not know what it's capable of!"
Ron looks over his shoulder, grinning. "As long as you don't have it, I'm good bucket head!"
The man swings his arm menacingly, "How many times do I have to tell you?! It's a helmet!"
Ron shrugged, smiling nonchalantly, "Helmet, bucket, tomato... tomahto, what's the difference?"
"What's zee difference?" he glared. "There's a huge difference! A bucket is meant to carry liquids such as water, oil, and other sorts. A helmet is used to cover and protect your head."
"Can you carry water in a helmet?" Ron asks innocently.
"Yes," he answered too quickly.
"Then they're the same!"
"Arg!"
…
... and in fact proved to be doing a pretty badical job at distracting the super villain...
…
"Hold it there sidekick! There's nowhere for you to run now!" Sometime between their chase two more of Dementor's henchmen joined the fight to reclaim the device from Ron's grasp.
Now after extensive running they finally cornered him near the professor's computer console, blocking all sides of possible escape.
"Hand over the device and I might think about sparring you and fraulein Possible." Dementor stopped and shrugged nonchalantly. "Probably not though, but still! Hand it over anyways!"
"Oh yea! Well," Ron panics and turns to the computer console, hovering a finger at a random key. "If you get any closer I'll press the self destruct button! And then this entire place will be up in flames!"
The evil man scoffs, "Oh please sidekick what do you take me for?" he challenges. "First I didn't install a self destruct feature and second we both know you're not smart enough to do that."
The three villains start to laugh at him as they approach, not regarding his threat the slightest. And slowly it stars to hurts for it wasn't the first time no one took his threats seriously. But Ron Stoppable pushed the feeling down and prepared to push his dumb skills to the test.
…
... using his dumb skill to its utmost potential...
…
"How is this possible! I didn't even install a self destruct mechanism sequence in the mother board! How in zee world did zee sidekick do that?" Dementor cried as the lair started to fall apart.
Pieces of the bedrock ceiling fell down rapidly, causing immense damage to the lair. Machines broke, henchmen scatter like helpless rats, and Ron grinned in triumph! Another win for the Ron man.
"Ron!" Kim yelled out, running towards the exit. "C'mon let's go!"
"Ha! Booyah! Dumb skills to the rescue! Take that bucket head!" Ron mocked, sliding between Dementor and his henchmen with the Atom Inducer safely tucked under his arm.
"Arg! It's a helmet!" he yelled out as Ron dodged the other henchmen and made it towards the exit.
…
... but all too soon the same routine settled in...
…
As Ron and Kim exited and parachuted down from Dementor's mountain lair, a loud pitch scream could be heard from the peak of the exploding mountain.
"Curse you Kim Possible!"
Of course the sound of the villain losing again allowed Ron to smile a brief moment, but only for that moment. For the worn out knot in his chest soon pulled tighter again.
How come after all the work and mocking he did to that Dementor guy didn't warrant him a villain's cry? He did his fair share. More in fact he realized from time to time. Distracting the villain, stealing back the stolen device, and blowing up the lair was a lot of work for a slacker such as himself and Ron would gladly be happy to hear his name shouted out just once.
Even sidekick would be radical.
But no, they never did.
…
... slowly crushing his supposed invincible not care spirit...
…
"Kim Possible! Kim Possible! Over here," Kim and Ron turned to see as a group of reporters swarmed them or swarmed Kim and pushed him out of the way. "Tell us how you defeated Professor Dementor!"
Ron groaned before dusting off his mission outfit. He watched as the reporters bombarded her questions on how she stopped Dementor. Not how they did it, but her. He saw how she cheerful answered their questions, momentarily forgetting about him.
Funny enough, Ron didn't blame her. From an early point in his life he discovered that Kim always had to be on top of things and could be forgetful. He did one time share her body so he got a general gist of the torture she went through daily. So no, he didn't blame her for forgetting to mention him.
But that didn't make handling the sitch all the much easier.
…
... and tightening that knot in his chest.
…
If anything it made the sitch all the much harder to absorb.
And at times Ron wondered what the problem really was.
He wasn't asking for much, really he wasn't. How hard could asking for some recognition from either the good guys or the bad guys be? At least the notion of remembering his name would be nice? Ron Stoppable—plain and simple like Kim Possible.
But apparently remembering his name was such a burden to everyone. Very less acknowledging that he had a hand at stopping the super villains bent on world domination. Hell forbid that he suddenly become useful.
Who cares about the sidekick right?
No one, no one cared.
Not even the people he risked his life to protect.
And with all that sadness and hate building up through the endless days of hero work, a certain awareness had reluctantly become possible beside his gentle spirit, always darkening up his mood. A temptation he never planned to voice out loud to the world.
Not like it would listen anyways—but Ron Stoppable hated being the sidekick.
Author Notes: Sometimes if you think about it. Ron did way more work that Kim.