One-Liner/Setup: After almost losing her BFBF to a world that believes she's just an imaginary character, "It's Only a Cartoon"'s Kim Possible decides to confront her greatest challenge, and prepares to engage…..the Multiverse!

Prologue:

(Author's Note 1: This is my first fan fiction contribution to the "many worlds" multiverse of . For the prequel to this prologue, please check out "It's Only a Cartoon" by whitem; my thanks again to whitem for letting me use his story as the jumping off point for my own; it is greatly appreciated. I hope you, the reader, will enjoy this first effort of mine, and I look forward to receiving your reviews and/or PMs. As with many others, I must balance my time between FFN and the "real world", but will do my best not to disappoint when I am FFNing…)

(Author's Note 2: It has been said that no military plan survives contact with the enemy; I'd like to opine the more general thought that no plan survives contact with reality. You see, I thought I had it all figured out: a prologue, an epilogue, and six sitches sandwiched neatly between the two. Well, that is so not going to happen, but I still am hopeful that the actual end result will still be entertaining to the reader. Please read on, and see if I'm still right about something…..)

Disclaimer: Kim Possible belongs to Disney; everybody else except the little girl belongs to somebody else. Detailed disclaimers found at end of each chapter…..

Multiversing with Kim

Chapter 1:

A Serious Sitch Indeed

Seven days after Ron's return from "Wal-Mart World":

"Kim, I'm not sure about all of this" said Wade warily, as he gently placed the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer on a padded portion of one of his work tables. "We just gave this stuff back to the legal owners after retrieving Ron from that weird world he was thrown into". Wade's facial expression suddenly turned suspicious. "Kim, just how did you manage to get this, anyway?"

Well, Wade, started Kim, beginning to twist her face into the expression more commonly known as a puppy dog pout, I was just really really really nice to the Director when I asked her. And I was really hoping that I could get you to do the same for me…."

"No, you can't", replied Wade, in a tone he hoped was forceful enough to make the point and achieve his goal. "Your puppy dog pout will not win me over this time, Kim. You know, I'm learning how to resist your so–called irresistible expressions and not be coaxed into doing things just by your pleading tones. I'm not just a little kid any more. I'm almost-".

Kim dropped the "pout", and interrupted the young genius before he could finish his declarative statement. "Okay, Wade, I get it. For what's worth, the PDP didn't work with Dr. Director, either; I had to step up to Plan B".

"What-?"began a confused Wade. Just what was plan B?

"Note 'serious' face" began Kim, pointing at herself with her right index finger before continuing with her "please understand this" monologue.

"But Kim, Ron's the one who does the 'serious' face-".

"And I'm doing this because of Ron" replied Kim, calmly. "You see, Wade, I didn't tell you this before now, but after I got Ron back to his own home following his rescue from that horrid other world, I went home and looked up every word you used during your attempts to explain the sitch that we were facing in trying to get him back that I didn't fully understand at the time. And I went on-line and did the research to better understand those theories and complex concepts you kept throwing out at me as we all worked together to save Ron last week. I worked ferociously for over 24 hours non-stop, despite my mom's repeated attempts to get me to take some time outs and her threats about grounding me if I didn't go to sleep "right now", and her saying again and again that I shouldn't be so obsessed about understanding everything you said about so quickly, and that "Rome wasn't built in a day"-.

"Kim-"Wade interrupted, fear growing within him.

But Kim cut him off. "But I didn't let her stop me or slow me down; I didn't let her keep me from doing what I KNEW I had to do. I may have gotten three days of grounding for my efforts, but it was more than worth it. Because NOW I understand fully what you were talking about, AND about what you were trying to spare me during those dark days without Ron…."

"Kim-"Wade began again, his eyes growing wider with every passing moment; he knew what she was about to say, and he would give anything to stop her from saying those words. But he knew it was hopeless, as Kim continued to talk, her voice taking on an increasing intense tone.

"…And now I know that we almost DIDN'T get him back, that he was almost trapped forever in that world and that we were almost separated forever, never to know each other's touch ever again, never to be able to hold each other, talk to each other, never to really be with each other ever again. Wade, do you know what that would have done to me? Can you really feel the pain I feel when I'm afraid that next time you won't be able to pull 'a rabbit out of the hat'? That no matter what you try to do, and no matter how much of that wonderful genius thinking that you always use to solve things when the sitch is really serious, you won't be able to get him back to us again? I won't accept that; I can't accept that. I will, however, do whatever I can do to make sure that whatever happens, I will be able to get Ron back when we need to, and that we can then do it also for anyone else we may lose to that world, or any other world that steals or traps somebody I love or care for! After all, I'm Kim Possible, and I can do anything! And I will never, ever, leave anyone behind! So, do you understand that-Wade,… what's…. wrong?" Kim's green pupil-ed eyes widened as she realized what was wrong.

"Oh! No!" she gasped. "Personal space, personal space!"She sobbed, as she threw herself backwards halfway across Wade's room to distance herself from the young computer genius. She then lashed out at herself as she curled herself into a ball: how could she have been so stupid? She had known that her serious face speech had deeply affected Dr. Director when she talked to her about borrowing the PDVI for Wade to examine, and the director was a full grown adult, very used to experiencing "in your face" situations. She had never considered what such a one on one would do to one as young and as reclusive as her young friend. And, more than just being so intense and direct in her recent speechmaking, Kim had also unconsciously moved both her hands progressively up his arms as she had proceeded to make her points to until they were at his elbows. No wonder Wade's expression had gone from fearful apprehension of Kim's realization regarding the seriousness of Ron's recent dilemma and the threat of future re-occurrences to a shocked and dazed one that reflected the depths that this invasion of privacy had been.

Kim cried uncontrollably, weeping deeply. What had she done to him? How badly had she hurt him? Of course, she had stopped as soon as she realized what she had done, and how far she had crossed over the line, but the damage had already been done. And if her mother had grounded her for days just because she refused to sleep before understanding the words that Wade had spoken to her, what would the punishment be for this? Maybe her mother and her dad would send her, and not Ron, to a black hole! And what would be worse than even that, she would know that she deserved it; indeed, they would be letting her off too lightly! "Oh, Wade, what have I done to you? I'm so sorry….I'm so sorry Wade! I never meant do that to you! Next to Ron, you've been the one I know I can count on to have my back and look what I've done to you! I'm a monster, who doesn't realize what she can do to others without even thinking about it! I don't deserve you as a friend! I don't deserve your help, no matter how much I really, really need it. I am so sorry Wade, so very, very sorry….."

"Kim, it's all right. You win, you've made your point; please don't cry anymore" pleaded Wade, slowly but determinedly making his way across the room to the emotionally distraught red-headed teen.

Kimberly Ann Possible's head popped up, a small smile on her face. "Oh, Wade, you're, you're all right!"

Then, her face darkened, and the small smile vanished. "No Wade, I haven't won, not in the least. I've lost, lost big time, Wade; I've lost it all. You see, you're only conceding to me right now because I shell-shocked you into a near catatonic state by invading your personal space; getting too close up to you, violating your trust of me, betraying you like I've never done before. Wade, I am so very very sorry about what I just did. I did not really mean to do that to you, but I did, and I am so sorry that I hurt you. I get so angry when I see the monsters on TV who hurt or abuse children or young people in any way, and now I realize that I have become one of them. I just hope someday, somehow, you can find it in your heart to forgive me for what I did to you today….."Kim's voice trailed off into total silence.

"No, Kim, I am really OK, and you should stop punishing yourself about it. I will admit that you were a bit intense; truly an example of your Kimness to the Nth degree, but you didn't really hurt me or shock me as badly as you thought you did. What you did do is that you helped me to finally understand about you and Ron: how strongly and intense your feelings are for him. It's probably the only way you could've made me realize what Ron means to you: that he is far more than just a best friend, and far more than just a boyfriend. In fact, even though I am still too young to really appreciate girls, I think that I know now understand a little about how nice it might be to have someone care for me as much as you care for Ron. I do finally understand how much you need me to try to do this for you."

"Wade….", Kim started calmly, but Wade interrupted her.

But, Kim, I do want you to understand something else. I am not Ron, and will never be that way with you, but I do really like you very much and I don't want to lose you either. That's why I expressed resistance to your idea initially: I'm very afraid that I'll put you somewhere that I can't get you back from…and if that ever happened to you, how do you think I would feel? How could I ever face your parents, face Ron, face any of your classmates, or face anyone else in the world, ever? I don't ever want to let you down after all that you have done for me: you trusted me to run your website, support your missions, build your special gear for you, and be there for you even though I never leave this room. You treated me like a real person, when everyone else just treated me like a little kid. Kimberly Anne Possible, I owe you so much that I can never repay even a small portion of what I should do for you in return for what you've done so many others all over the world, but I will do everything that I can make sure that you are always here to save the world, even as I work on making sure that we will find a way to get back all of those people we might lose to other worlds, and keep anyone from having to go through what you almost had to go through. Do you understand, Kim?"

"Yes, Wade, I do" Kim answered calmly. "And, after we do this, and confirm that we can rescue all the people that might be lost in those other worlds, I'll turn myself in to your mom and my mom and let them deal with me for what I did to you tonight; no matter how severe the punishment is or how lengthy the grounding will be, I know that I will more than deserve whatever I am handed."

"No, Kim, you will not", said Wade sternly. "In fact," Wade continued, sounding almost like Mr. Barkin, "we will not speak of this incident to anyone, ever. Not to my mom, nor to yours. Kim, I know about those monsters on TV, and what they do to children is horrid, to say the least. But I also know that they rarely if ever realize that they have done wrong, and even more rarely do they accept responsibility for those actions. Kim, by nearly throwing yourself into my equipment after you realized that you had crossed a line, and by berating yourself far more severely than most people ever would have, you already addressed the most important part of handling this incident. In fact, am I right in assuming that in your own mind, the good you has already severely thrashed the over the line you until the latter is practically comatose, mentally speaking, at least?"

"Yes, Wade, but—", started Kim, still thinking that she was being let off far too easily.

"But nothing, Kim, interrupted Wade, "that sitch is done and over with, and we will hear no more about black holes or anything more about your mother or my mother punishing you for something you and I have already dealt with and moved on from."

"Are you really sure about that, Wade?" questioned Kim. "I mean, what if you have a delayed reaction to all this? I don't want you to be permanently affected by what I did tonight, and whatever happens to me is not important as long as we make sure that you are helped to overcome this without any long-term scars. After all, as you said not too long ago, you hoped that someday a girl would care for you as much as I cared for Ron and I don't want you or her to suffer in any way in your relationship because of something another girl did to you some time before, especially if that girl was me. I really feel that you're letting me off far too gently in this particular sitch."

"No, Kim, I'm not" replied Wade. "I am going to lay down some guidelines as we move forward from here, and you will follow them without debate or complaint. I am going to set some rules, and you will obey them. I will be in charge of this mission sitch, and I will have the final say in this effort. Do you understand me, and will you comply?"

"Yes, Wade," agreed Kim, with her voice so low and calm that Wade began to fear that she had gone into a version of shell-shock herself. "I will obey all your directions without complaint or dissension or anything that would keep you from being in charge of this sitch. You are the mission leader, and I am the side kick or junior partner. I will do my best to not let you down, mission leader; just tell me what to do and how am I can help."

"Kim, are you OK"? Wade asked nervously. "I have never seen you act so submissively to anybody, and I don't want to hurt you in any sort of permanent fashion, either. You being so quiet so suddenly has me a little worried; I'm very sorry if I over did the leadership part, and if I crossed over any line myself, please let me know; I'm never want to hurt you either, ever, for any reason."

"No, Wade," started Kim, quietly. "You haven't crossed any lines, and I'm really OK. It's just that I am still so very thankful that I hadn't hurt you as badly as I feared I had, and that you are still considering helping me out with this challenge. I am really, really thankful for you, Wade and what you've done in the past and probably will continue to do for Team Possible in the future. And I trust you not to abuse me as I abus-…."

"Remember, Kim, we're past that now, OK?"

"Yes, Wade, whatever you say…it's time we move on…"conceded Kim, quietly and calmly, but with just enough "Kimness" and firm "affirmative" tonalities to avoid retriggering Wade's concerns about her. She was now carefully and consciously walking an incredibly thin tightrope between the extreme calmness that her chagrined self was forcing on the "girl of action" self to prevent a reoccurrence of the intense exchange that had also, but not quite, shattered, a bond of trust that, once broken, would not have been easily or quickly repaired or rebuilt, and the extreme "I CAN do anything" intensity that had, in the past, often enabled the red-haired teenager to overcome any challenge faced in the field by simply refusing to acknowledge the apparent impossibility of overcoming said challenge, and then proceeding to solve the sitch and "save the world". That "balancer" self/facet of Kimberly Anne Possible was putting out a "110%" effort to avoid toppling off that near-invisible thread of equilibrium in either direction, even as it was also silently sending out a continuous stream of thanks to Whomever might be listening for saving a sitch that she had almost accepted as unsolvable and lost forever. That "self" also realized that though it somehow had been given a "second chance", it would not be receiving a "third"; there could be no more mistakes going forward. She had to do this correctly, with no more slip up's on her part.

"So, Wade, how do we handle this sitch?" continued Kim, her balancer firmly in charge of her verbiage and her other two selves (or at least the balance between them). "…What are the guidelines, and what are the rules? How shall we deal with the challenges and how will we move forward to success?"

Then, Kim stopped, placed a quiet smile on her face, and waiting for Wade to reply.

The quiet moment lingered, and then stretched out until it threatened to dominate everything else in the room. Finally, Wade replied.

"First off, I don't send you out there until we are sure that we are totally good and ready to go on the mission. And there is no questioning me on this one thing: if I finally decide that this sitch is impossible to solve or resolve, then this whole mission sitch is over. And, Kim, there will be no argument about that item. Kim, do you understand and agree to this first condition?"

"Yes, Wade, I do. This one time you're the mission master, the team leader and the partner in charge of the whole mission sitch. If you decide that this effort cannot be successfully performed, you will order a mission abort, and close the entire operation down, permanently. And, I am not to argue with your decision, no matter how I feel about doing so." Both of the non-balancer selves cried out within her: "No, No, No, don't agree to that! Never ever….!" But the balancer paused for just a moment then continued.

"But, Wade, if I was to respectfully, and I stress the word respectfully, request illumination of why you have concluded that the effort cannot be successfully performed, would you do your best to explain it to me so that I can understand it and move on? And, if while you were explaining it to me, and I was quietly and respectfully listening to you, you determined that it might still be possible to accomplish the mission in another way, would you at least consider changing the mission abort decision and resuming the effort, still, of course, under your control as mission leader? That is, could you at least consider, or rather reconsider, your original decision if you, and not me, realized that you may have reached a premature conclusion on the matter?" The balancer paused again for a fraction of a heartbeat, then resumed.

"Or, Wade, would you consider even this respectful request for an explanation in order to aid my understanding of the mission abort decision process a violation of my agreement in this regard? You see, I don't want to even accidentally mess up this agreement with you, even in the slightest regard, and I want to fully understand what I am agreeing to in this sitch… I really do want to do things right this time; no puppy dog pout, no serious face, just a "go team go" unity of purpose. After all, when it all comes down to it, you and I are on the same team, right, Wade?"

"Yes, we are, Kim," answered Wade, "and I will do my best to explain why I'm closing the operation down for good. And I will do my best to permit myself to rethink the decision if I realize that I've made an error in my reasoning process in that regard. But, please don't press the point too hard, and risk slipping into an argument or debating mode; OK?"

"OK, Wade, I agree." The balancer smiled again, inside, and then continued. "And what is the second point?"

"The second point is that we're not going to be on a schedule, or rather, more importantly, we will not be driven by a schedule. We will take as long as it needs to be done with any one of our many things we have to do, and we will not take shortcuts….."

"Agreed, no shortcuts, not driven by a schedule; after all, better safe than sorry, right, Wade?"

"Right, Kim", confirmed Wade."And don't even think of trying to get around me on those issues, either."

"No way, Wade", acknowledged Kim, her balancer self enjoying itself more and more, with the other two selves becoming more and more confused: were they winning or losing this discussion?

"OK, Kim; now on to point number three….."

********30 minutes later*******

"OK Kim, I guess that's about it. I will not let you go on any journey unless I'm really sure I can get you back. When you do travel on to the next sitch, you'll do so by returning home first, then jumping to the next sitch from our home base here in my room. And anytime I don't feel comfortable with how things are going, I reserve the right to stop the whole thing, even in the midst of the sitch, and I will hit the automatic retrieval button to get you home safe and sound. And I will do it no matter how angry that makes you with me, I would rather have you angry with me and what I did and have you in one piece that have you in pieces in some other world just because I did not want you to be angry with me for retrieving you too soon. Besides Kim, you know our world depends on you to save it from people like Drakken and Shego almost every day of the week. What will happen to this world if something happens to you? And if worse comes to worse, and everything else fails, I will do everything I can to bring you home for your final rest; at least we'll have your body here in our universe, not lost somewhere out there in the darkness of other possible realities."

" OK, Wade" agreed Kim, "We will do it your way, all the way, from start to finish, no excuses, no arguments, no ifs ands or buts. I will not go into my first sitch until you give the green light. I will not proceed on to the next sitch without returning here first and getting a go-ahead from you to continue to the next sitch. And if you do call a timeout or an end of game, there will be no debate at all from the cheerleading section."Kim then paused, and briefly waited for Wade to respond. When he did not, Kim continued.

"And when we successfully complete the last sitch, and I return home to your room here, I will take the multiversal communicator and translation device and put it up there on your storage shelf, and I will never, ever, use it again unless we lose Ron or someone else in another universe. And as we put that device into storage, we will both hope and pray that we will never have to use it again, because we would realize that no matter how well we understand or think we understand how everything works in this whole multiverse sitch, there will never be an absolute guarantee that all would work out as we would wish." Kim paused for one last time, then resumed her summary and conclusions.

"So, mission leader, do I understand the sitch as it is, or don't I?"

You do, junior partner, you do indeed, agreed Wade, convinced that he finally had Kim where he wanted her to be, completely unaware that this was exactly what Kim wanted him to think.

"OK, so what do we do first, sir?" Kim asked sincerely, with obvious interest, being extremely careful not to give him any cause for any overt concern or suspicion.

"Well, to start off, you go to your home, or go out on a Naco run with Ron and Rufus, and let me begin some very intense and serious thinking about this PDVI and what I need to do with it to help us get where we want to be in this multiversal sitch. OK, Kim?"

"Can…" Kim started, then paused for a second before resuming, "Can I help you… a little... before I go?" Kim asked, being extremely careful not to press the point too much at this early stage of this new teamed effort.

"Not now, junior partner; right now, I just need a little quiet time with myself and this; I will, however, probably need some help later, so you better get rested up for some intense study sessions involving Multiversing 101 and related subjects of interest. But, for now, Kim, just allow me some "me" time so that I can get us off to a good start. Does that sound good to you?"

"Yes, Wade, I'll get going, and let you get to work, AFTER you take a breather from this little meeting here. After all, you deserve a little break before getting into this study, don't you?" Kim paused for a moment, but then continued without waiting for Wade's response to a second question. "By the way, will it be OK if I check which you in about a week if I don't hear from you before then about this? Obviously, I will not ask you anything about it during any of our normal mission sitches, no matter what, but I would like to be able to check with you at least once a week about our special project, apart from your normal support of our regular missions and such, that is. Is that good with you, Wade?"

"Yes, Kim, a week, if I don't call you sooner. You just leave it to me." Wade replied, increasingly confident that he had the sitch with teammate well in hand.

"Okay Wade, I'll see you then, if not before". Kim stood up to leave, walked to the door, then halted in the doorway, and turned to face the young man. "Thanks, Wade; thank you …for… everything. I...do… really… appreciate… it, very much. And I will not forget you giving me a second chance on moving us forward like this".

As the red-haired girl vanished through the doorway of his room, the computer genius gazed intently at the pan dimensional vortex inducer, and began to seriously think of what he could possibly do with it that would satisfy a very intense young lady's current deepest wishes….