Disclaimer: I own nothing of Kim Possible.

Kings and Gourds

By: Imyoshi

Ron Stoppable is starting to think these cultural trips to exotic places like Japan aren't what they're cracked up to be. Sure, Japan and Yamanouchi had been majorly cool from the start, but this new student exchange program really tanked. What's he going to learn in the middle of Africa? There's nothing to see but sun and hot rocks, and bugs, a lot of creepy crawlies. Nothing of value or interest could be waiting here.

Kicking his foot on the dirt, Ron wondered if it was too late to get back on the bus home and beg Mr. Barkin to reconsider. Ron might even actually do his homework if his nemesis reconsidered. Miracles can happen, and he does know the impossible girl.

Turning around, Ron glared when he found the bus speeding off in the distance. Never more had he wished for Rufus's presence, but the little guy got sick before the trip and Kim had agreed to watch over his little buddy. Such problems didn't make the sitch any easier to deal with, the opposite in fact.

Throwing his mission bag over his shoulder, Ron held up the map the bus attended was order to give him, hating his below average geography skills. He then looked down at his mission outfit, guessing he should thank Wade for the heads up about proper wear for dangerous settings, because the area looked dangerous and out-of-place for his usual threads.

"Why can't these trips ever be easy?"

Following the map best to his abilities, Ron quietly wondered who gave this map to the bus guy, because the directions seem to be leading him more towards the open than the dirt road he had been dropped down at. However, a quick glance over his shoulder and in all directions proves no one else is around. There's dirt, grass, plants, and large rock formations, but a heavy lack of people. He's alone in Africa.

Beginning his wild journey, Ron used the map partially as a way to beat the heat, shading his eyes from the glaring sun. Every step he takes is harder than the last, and he actually wished some crazy, mad scientist threaten the world, at least then he could get out of this heat bowl and into an air condition cargo plane.

A sidekick could dream.

Traveling for the better part of a mile, Ron stops walking when he hears some bushes ruffle beside his feet. Fear quickly takes hold of the sidekick, and he wildly jumps back, doing some craze monkey kung-fu pose. Funny enough, the threat turns out to be a meerkat and some brown looking pig, both of which take a moment to stare at Ron before they move on their merry way.

Watching them go, Ron pushed away the incident and continued on walking, finding the area around him slowly changing from dried dirt to soft, green grass, even the heat was dying down. A few trees can be seen around the land, a small waterhole is nearby, and off in the distance Ron can see some weird rock formation that stuck partially out of the ground, covered in trees and vegetation as well. And if he looked hard, truly squinted his eyes, he could partially make out a lion and lionesses standing on the rock formation, gazing sharply over the land.

Waving his hand off, Ron turned a different direction, away from the source of predators. "No way am I going that way! Lion chow? Me? I don't think so!"

Luckily for him, the map's pointing towards a different direction, someplace more the other way than the den full of giant cats. And that's plenty of enough of a reason for Ron to follow the map to this so called school, but with each step he takes, he's starting to think there's no school out here. It can't be like the secret ninja school, there's no place for such a school to hide. Everything around him is just so in the open, Ron would be surprise if anything could actually spook him.

Following the map, Ron noticed the green was starting to thin again, trees became more scare with each step, and the area's growing more quiet with each step. Then he's alerted when a high-pitch laugh resonates in his ears, pulling his attention away from the map, and refocusing it on three random hyenas trailing behind him. Their tongues are out, obviously looking at Ron as some kind of meal.

Putting the map away, Ron made slow movements, forming a fist. Fear grips him hard, panic tags right along, yet he pushed them both down as the first hyena lunged forward. And a quick fist to its nose throws it back, followed by a roundhouse kicked at the second that tried to take advantage of him. The third, however, managed to sink its jaws onto Ron's forearm, halting Ron's movement for a slow moment.

Gritting his teeth, he kicked the predator in the stomach, forcing the damn hyena to let go. "What kind of exchange program is this?!"

Checking to see if he received any injury to his arm, Ron's not entirely amazed that his mission outfit managed to stop the hyena's canines from digging too deep into his skin. It still hurts, but he's not bleeding. That's far better than being wounded out here in the middle of Africa.

Putting his foot back, Ron glared, grin heroic. "Bring it on! I've dealt with monkeys and henchmen tougher than you three! You're just big flea magnets!"

They all charge at Ron, attempting to sick their jaws on his legs and arms, and if possible, neck too. But with the grace of a monkey, Ron managed to dodge them by sliding across the dirt floor, getting one underneath their noses. The hyenas can barely turn around before Ron's fist collides with the snout of one of the three, stunning the other two until it's already too late to react.

Spinning in the air, Ron connected a nasty roundhouse kick to the hyena's head while using that momentum to launch forward and strike the third with a haymaker right to its lower jaw. The hyenas barely have time to reach before they're flung away, scraping across the unforgiving dirt. To be fair, they do try to challenge Ron again, but the sidekick growled with a primal part of him adding anger and promises of pain into the sound, reacting totally to his Mystical Monkey Powers.

The hyenas run away soon right after, leaving a trail of dust for Ron to shake his fist at. "Yea! That's right! You better run! Dumb hyenas! Always laughing even when no one makes a joke!"

Wiping away some dust off his sleeve, Ron huffed, hating this day so far. Some much for an exchange program! By now he's pretty much figured out that this was another secret ninja sitch. And he couldn't even call KP to come get him. Looks like he's stuck following this darn map to Naco knows where!

Ripping the map out of his pocket, Ron continued to travel deeper in Africa's wild lands, keeping his eyes open for any possible predators lurking nearby. He's met with no opposition, but the sidekick does spot random animals from hippos to elephants to even giraffes. The sights are nice. He's always liked animals and they tended to return the favor. Ron's just not so big on the animals that can throw him across a clearing.

Traveling deeper into the safari, Ron twisted the map a few times in hands, completely lost as the surrounding vegetation dispersed into dried plants. The dirt turned red in color and the clouds littered the skies, blocking out a decent chunk of the sun's rays. Trees began to fall back, and soon he's reaching a tree that defied proportions.

Unless he's reading this completely wrong, the map ends here, at this weird, gigantic tree. How it grew so large with everything else being so small and covered in dirt, confused the Stoppable. He had no idea what he was supposed to do next, and curiously walked up to the tree, tapping the bark when he found it to feel weird. What he found was the tree to be sort of hollow, lacking the normal sound a tree normally had whenever someone hit it.

Walking around the tree for a bit, Ron tried to look past the leaves for any structure of some kind, but found zero. Flipping the map around, Ron tiredly laughed, not believing he missed the Mystical Monkey Symbol on the back with a tiny ninja symbol that the sidekick suspects that Yori had something to do with. He uselessly tossed the piece of paper into the wind, leaning down easier on the hollow tree with a pained smile.

"I should've known this had something to do with the Mystical Monkey Powers! It always does! This always happens! I can't believe this!"

"Why? If it always happens, then you shouldn't be surprised."

Ron falls back when a monkey suddenly appears before him, hanging upside on a branch. He scoots back on the floor, trying to settle down his rapidly beating heart with a glare at the crazed baboon getting down from the branch; at least he thinks it is baboon. He's no monkey expert.

It looks like a baboon, but kind of looks like some other species of monkey as well. It definitely walks like a monkey, well except for that weird stick it's holding with gourds and other fruit attached to the end of it. Maybe a mandrill? Possibly even a hybrid of the two. Ron would even say he's partially mutated, but that's all up in the air. What really freaks him out is the white beard the monkey had. Ron didn't know baboons grew facial hair like that.

Suddenly understanding the revelations behind it all, Ron gets up and groans. "Great! A talking baboon! Why is it that every monkey I run into turns out to be freaky? Wait?" Ron paused, hoping he was just hallucinating from the heat. "Can you talk?"

The baboon stretched his hands out, grin monkey in every way. "Do you see anyone else here? I don't."

So he's not hallucinating. Kind of sad. Ron Stoppable would prefer he wasn't dealing with an odd monkey, if he could even call it that. He much rather be dealing with mirages, at least then things would make far more sense. Well, as much sense as humanly possible. He is in Africa after all, logic as long since been thrown out the window.

Brushing off the dust, Ron hides his palms in his pocket. "Please don't tell me this is more monkey mumble jumble."

The baboon laughed. "Okay, I won't."

Ron glared, finding it odd that the baboon was almost as tall as him. He didn't think baboons could get this tall. "It totally is, isn't it?"

"What do you think, hmm?"

Rubbing his temples, Ron suddenly hit the tree with his fist, really feeling the hollowness of said tree. He curses into the air, pushing his luck. "Okay! What is it that you want? Monkey? Words of wisdom? Bananas?"

The baboon laughed long and hard. "No. I just want to see you with my own eyes. It's not every day one finds themselves so close to the monkey king."

Ron blinked innocently. "What? Me? Monkey king? No! No!" He pushed his hands out, denying the whole thing. "You've got the wrong sombrero! I'm no monkey king. I'm Ron Stoppable—!"

"The Monkey Master!" he cut in, poking Ron with the end of his stick. "I know all about you, I've been waiting. I know all the great kings of the past, even Sun Wukong and Toshimiru!"

Ron crossed his arms, walking towards the crazy baboon since he recalled Master Sensei mentioning Toshimiru before. "What do you know about kings?"

The baboon hummed, "Plenty. I know that you're the current monkey master! The next ruler of our power! You're the new monkey king! And the missing link between monkeys and man. You have a big role to play in the great circle of life."

Not believing any of it, Ron leaned back on the Baobab tree, wondering the type of sitch he's gotten himself into this time. The two of them remain silent, allowing the gentle breeze of insects to lull them for a bit, but Ron's a curious person, and a talking monkey just begs to be asked questions.

"How can you understand me—how can I understand you!" Ron asked quickly.

The monkey poked Ron on the chest, moving quickly. "You know why. Your past isn't forgotten."

The sidekick sighed, rubbing his hair. "Mystical Monkey Power, huh?" The monkey grinned. "Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be? It'll be sick and wrong if it wasn't." Wiping away some spare sweat from his forehead, Ron leaned forward. "It's like a furnace out here."

The baboon moved forward, climbing the tree with ease. He offers Ron a hand, "Come with Rafiki! I'll show you the way!"

Ron considered his offer, not completely sure yet if he should follow a monkey up a tree. But the heat's getting to him, and the top of the tree did seem spacious and free from heat, probably filled with shadows and endless fruit. So the sidekick accepts his offer and climbs up after him, pausing only for the smallest moments to remember what the baboon just said.

"So your name is Rafiki? That's a weird name." Reaching the top of the tree, Ron pulled himself up from the edge, finding the flat floor a little unnerving. Didn't seem natural, "Nice tree you got here. It's very... woody."

"Thank you!" Rafiki laughed. "Rafiki does what he can to take care of the place."

Walking around, Ron finds there's not much to look at. But he does come across a branch with what looks like to have a drawing of a lion on the center. His natural curiosity does get the better of him and Ron leans forward, throwing his thumb at the picture.

"Nice picture... something special?"

Rafiki shrugged his shoulders playfully. "Just the king of the Pride Lands. I wouldn't go near him if I was you. Your magic only allows you to talk to monkeys. You're just food for him."

Ron took a step back, curiosity far hungrier. "A king, him, really? How big is his kingdom?"

The monkey throws his hands up, spreading them as wide as he can. "Everything that the light touches is his kingdom!"

Ron wondered if he should burst the old monkey's bubble. He decides against it, not wanting to hurt his host's feeling. Instead, Ron touches the hand drawing, getting instantly hit on the head by Rafiki's walking stick.

Rubbing his head, Ron threw his hands up. "What was that for?!""

Rafiki glared, poking Ron roughly on the chest. "Don't touch it!"

Frowning, Ron sat down and crossed his arms. It's time to get down to business. "So what am I doing here in the middle of Africa? What's the sitch?"

The old monkey sat down in front of Ron. He closes his eyes; relaxing for a moment before trying to hit the sidekick a second time with his magic staff, but Ron grabs it, not finding the attack all that amusing. He's actually starting to get angry with the simian, but Rafiki just laughs it off, like the whole thing had been one big joke. Ron still hasn't found the punch line yet.

"You learn quickly, learning from the past. And that is what you're doing here, to learn about the past kings and about your destiny."

"You know..." Ron said, eyebrow raised and head held by his palm. He reached for a gourd attached to a vine, ripped it in half, and took a large bite of one side. "I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask or want to be some monkey king."

Rafiki smiled gently, poking Ron softly on the chest with his stick while taking the other half of the gourd from Ron's hand. "None of us ever do, but we must. The circle of life must go on. You were chosen for your pure heart."

Rolling his eyes, Ron leaned forward, resting partially on his knees. "Why is this stuff never easy? So what? Am I supposed to save some monkeys in the future? Defeat some badical witch? Take down some aliens? What am I looking at?"

"I don't know!" Rafiki answered. "I'm just here to tell you about the past. Your destiny is out of my hands. So which one would you like to hear about first? How the Mystical Monkey Power works? Or maybe you would like to hear about the monkey masters? Their stories are filled with adventure and wisdom. You can learn a great deal from their lives."

Ron thought about it for a minute, clicking his teeth together. He closed his eyes, silently picking between the two before he suddenly zeroes in his vision directly at the smiling simian, interest not on some old monkey masters, but baboon sitting in front of him with apparent infinite knowledge. Even for a talking monkey, Rafiki was an oddity, hitting a eleven on the ten point weirdness scale.

"How about your story?" Ron questioned honestly, pointing at Rafiki with curiosity only a monkey could have. "How do you know all about this stuff? What's your game?"

Immensely satisfied with young Stoppable's answer and interest, Rafiki got up and brushed past Ron with a kick in his step. He walked towards the end of the tree, flicking away some leaves to reveal a Mystical Monkey symbol on the bark of the tree, showing advance age that shadow anything Ron could hope to achieve. The baboon then did a pose that's strikingly similar to the monkey crest, holding up the stick that seemed more magical the more seconds Ron spent staring at it.

"Those monkey powers of yours... they belong to me! Rafiki at your service, the very first monkey king!"

Author Notes: Gourds are a type of fruit. Rafiki is from the Lion King.