1) Under no circumstances is a Creator allowed to get emotionally involved with the Chosen Beings.
June 27th, 57,009 A.D.
Middleton, Colorado
12:07 P.M.
Even at its highest point in the sky the sun only cast enough light to remind one of sunset but it didn't matter as the light only served to show a dead world. A world that was silent of everything as a pale wind blew rust filled dust around the skeleton of a lost civilization.
There was no sound of children playing as those who provided that tune had long since grown up and passed away. There was no sound of machinery, after all everyone was dead. The machines man had long depended on as a way to make life easier had fallen apart with no one to care for them. They had all rusted away into dust and the dust had blown away to be mixed back with the earth.
In the distance, set against a setting sun there stood the last remnants of a forgotten city; the steel girders a testament to their creator's ingenuity and quality of work. But the cities were now abandoned and the people long forgotten. Every so often the weight of the tower above would be too much and the building would come crashing down. The only noise apart from the wind that resounded on this planet.
Earth, for all intents and purposes, was dead.
It wasn't because of any one cause or any person but simply because like all things in the universe, Humanity's time had ended. Every species dies, every culture is forgotten and if you give it enough time, entire species are forgotten. That had been what happened to humanity. Over the countless thousands of millennia, humanity had simply run out of time. An entire civilization was been completely erased from the Universe and the human race died out.
And not just here on Earth: across the stars all life had ceased to be. Derelict space stations that orbited distant stars had gone silent millennia ago and the terra-formed planets that had once been so highly touted by governments looking to colonize new worlds; they had gone silent as well.
Even the great Empire of Lowardia had gone silent and stopped answering calls eons ago.
Their intergalactic empire was as cold and dead as Humanity's and no trace of their species lived. They were finished.
Across the Universe, a singular cold wind hissed around every dead planet, every dead field, every dead galaxy.
Life was over.
Or at least that would have had it not been for one walking anomaly.
Correction, two walking anomalies.
Like most things in the universe, the Human Race had an insurance policy. Something to keep the Human Race alive even after it long since passed on. That insurance policy was named Ronald Dean Stoppable and his pet naked mole rat, Rufus.
Even as he trudged through the endless desolation that was Earth, the happy whistle never stopped and the smile never left his face. As he walked along a well-worn path, his shoes kicking up a series of miniature dust clouds, Ron looked at his pants pocket where Rufus quietly stared out at the desolation.
"It's pretty isn't it Rufus?" Ron asked, his calm voice breaking through the cold wind that whistled eerily around them.
Rufus scampered out of Ron's pocket and perched on Ron's shoulder and pointed at a location several miles away while jabbering on about something.
Ron was quiet until Rufus had finished before nodding, "That's right Rufus, that's where we're walking to-"
Rufus' angry chittering interrupted Ron and Ron shrugged playfully, throwing Rufus around, "We go there every day Rufus," he paused as Rufus climbed back onto Ron's shoulder, "Why should today be any different?"
Rufus was silent and nodded silently before scampering down into Ron's pocket with an agreeing confirmation.
"Besides," Ron continued to talk to his only friend left, "Do you have something planned for today? A party at Bonnie's house that you forgot to tell me about."
Rufus emerged from his pocket to blow a raspberry and growled playfully as Ron smiled and patted his pocket affectionately, "I'm glad you approve little buddy."
Rufus ducked back into Ron's pocket to enjoy the ride.
Ron stopped mid stride as a long forgotten memory swept over him like a wave. Ron collapsed to his knees, the pain of his past life washing over him.
"Are you there?"
Ron coughed roughly as he fought back tears as he heard Kim's voice swirling in the wind.
"I need you Ron."
Bueno Nacho. Nacos. Monkeys. Ron thought of everything he could just so he would forget.
"I know you can do this Ron," Kim assured.
Ron screamed into the dust as he felt the dam burst and his eyes welled up as he remembered.
"Run Ron!" Kim shouted over the radio.
He remembered everything.
October 17th, 2019
Go City, Colorado
5:08 P.M.
With a primal scream, Ron brought the Lotus blade down on the last cyborg and took personal satisfaction as the abomination ceased to function and joined its brethren on the ground surrounding him.
He took this moment to catch his breath and Ron breathed heavily as he stood alone in the midst of the ruined city, everyone else either dead or evacuated. He wiped the Lotus blade on his pants and felt the cold oil seep through his pants leg.
"Seriously idiota?" the twenty foot tall mech suit asked standing next to him, "you have millions of places to wipe off that blade and you choose to wipe the oil from the toys on your pants?"
The mech walked off with a noticeable limp before turning back to Ron, "you know that oil will eat through clothing. Or should I have Kim remind you of what happened to your last pair of pants?"
Ron shrugged with a smile, "Now Zita, what do you think all that leaking hydraulic fluid is going to do to your clothes when you have to get out of that thing?"
A chuckle escaped the mech as Zita carefully surveyed the buildings surrounding them, "I don't detect any more of the little machines," she paused and turned to Ron, "do you?"
Ron was silent for a moment but eventually shook his head.
"I think only the Mama is left," he reported.
The mech shook its head, "over 800 billion in research and development on creating an Artificial Intelligence and you'd think they would have chosen a more cool name.
Ron was ready to answer but the radio in his pocket squawked as Kim shouted out to him, "RON!"
The radio squawked again as Ron raced to stand on top of a car, not noticing of the damaged buildings or countless other burning cars surrounding him, he only cared about Kim as he heard her struggling over the radio.
"I'm here Kim," Ron called out into the radio, "what's your status?"
"Not good," Kim reported and Ron heard the sound of Kim running over the radio, "I need you to leave me behind."
"Kim," Ron shouted into his radio, the Lotus Blade in his hand forgotten, "Don't say that, I can get you-"
"Don't you dare," Kim interrupted, "Don't you dare come for me."
He heard Kim moving something large up against a door, "It's too late for me now," he heard her grunt in frustration as she pushed something heavy, "When the Mama comes I'll try and do some damage but..."
BOOM
She trailed off as the Mama slammed against the door.
"I'll try to buy you some time but-" Kim tried to finish but Ron cut her off.
"I can save you!" he shouted as he tried to figure out where she was.
"You're immortal Ron," Kim argued, "Not invincible. If you go up against the Mama it will rip you to strips of meat in five seconds. Besides, I'd be dead before you could find a way into this underground fortress."
"You don't know-"
"I do know that," Kim said as Ron heard her run through Global Justice's abandoned hallways.
"Kim," Ron felt tears coursing down his cheeks.
"Ron, I'm going to die," he heard a pause as Kim finally accepted it, "I'm going to die and you can't stop it."
"What are you going to do Kim?" Ron quietly asked through the radio.
Kim sprinted past locked doors and abandoned hallways, Betty and Will Du's keys dangling from her neck, "Dropping the complex on the Mama."
Ron stopped as a cold terror over took him, "If you do that you'll level the city."
Kim smiled as she pried open a metal door and entered the Global Justice Control Room, "Well I guess you better get going."
"Kim-"
"Please Ron," she pleaded over the radio as she stuck Betty and Will's keys into matching slots on an enormous control panel.
"I need you to run Ron," she said as she turned the keys and an enormous clock started counting down on the giant view screen.
"SELF DETONATION IN 15 SECONDS," a computerized voice called out over the underground station's loudspeakers.
Through his radio Ron heard the RS clawing at the control room door.
"Please." A final word spoken softly by Kim before Ron heard the sound of metal wrenching from its hinges.
"KIM!" Ron shouted into his radio but Kim gave a final scream and then her radio cut off.
Ron turned to Zita in the mech suit and the Honduras born woman looked at Ron with resignation, "Always knew it was a one way trip."
Before Ron could say anything Zita scooped up Ron with an enormous hand and lobbed Ron into the sky, "I really hope Sensei taught you how to fly."
As Ron flew through the air he looked back just in time to see the entire city erupt into flame and collapse in on itself. He saw Zita's mech suit wave at him a final time before she fell through an enormous crack in the road and was swallowed up in the shifting ground.
In the next thirty seconds all forty square kilometers of Go City collapsed in on itself as the Global Justice complex beneath it was destroyed and countless tons of rock and metal crushed anything caught inside.
Towers that had once been painstakingly built tumbled on their sides and the Bueno Nacho Tower's dome of glass shattered as the building collapsed to the ground. The streets and subways that ran through the city were torn asunder and flung into the air as if done so by a child.
It was almost imperceptible at first but soon it was apparent to see the enormous maelstrom of destruction that swirled around in the massive sink hole caused by the destruction of the Global Justice Base.
For several minutes the roar of the collapsing city drowned out all other noise on the planet and it was even loud enough for the Creator to turn his gaze and watch the destruction in horror as the city collapsed in on itself.
Out of the destruction the Creator watched a lone figure fly through the air and reaching out a hand, the Creator slowed Ron Stoppable's fall so the man landed with hardly a bump or bruise.
Ron stood to his feet and watched the desolation of Go City's destruction before him with his jaw open in revulsion at the senseless destruction. Rufus climbed from his Master's pocket and joined him in watching the horror with a slack jaw.
He knew it was pointless to try but he pulled out the radio from his pocket, "Kim?"
The radio hissed static in response.
"Zita?" he asked quietly.
The radio crackled with white noise.
"Anyone?"
There was no answer.
Quietly, Ron turned the radio off and slung the Lotus blade over his shoulder before turning his back on Go City he walked out into the desolate landscape of the ruined Earth.
June 27th, 57,009 A.D.
Middleton, Colorado
12:15 P.M.
Ron gasped on all fours as the memory left him alone with only Rufus by his side.
Silence descended on the pair and for several moments the Universe was still.
Rufus patted Ron reassuringly and nudged Ron.
Ron was silent for another moment before nodding to his friend and together they carried on.
June 27th, 57,009 A.D.
Middleton, Colorado
4:03 P.M.
Around four o'clock, they arrived at their location. Or at least Ron was sure it was their location. He had walked this path so many times before a path had been beaten into the red dust of the dead planet. The beaten path only led to here and the remains of Bueno Nacho so there was only one other option.
He cast a look towards Go City in the distance and shook his head in anger as he remembered the devastation caused.
Rufus looked around at the dusty remains of their location and sighed affectionately. He knew his master loved this place more than anywhere on Earth and he hopped out of the pocket as he knew Ron needed this alone time.
He scampered along the ground towards a tiny hole in the ground, jumping over a sign that read Middleton National Cemetery in the process. Ron cared for that sign almost as much as he did her grave if anything just so he could find the spot again.
Feeling the familiar weight of Rufus leave his pocket Ron looked to his left where he saw a pink flash vanish into the now forming shadows.
He thought about calling out to Rufus but decided against it as he heard a tiny voice, "Ron? Have you been crying again?"
Ron smiled at Kim's voice, "I missed you," he said even as a tear came to his eye.
"I miss you to Ron, but soon we'll be together," she explained and he heard a noise of something shuffling along the ground.
Ron turned to his wife and took in the image of her resting in the shade cast by her tombstone, "Kim, it doesn't get any less easy," he sat down beside her, "I mean, day in and day out unable to die?"
He saw her place a loving hand on his shoulder but he felt nothing, "I know that it's hard but for some reason, you're still needed to do the Creator's work."
"What work?" he asked mockingly and gestured to the deserted and desolate area surrounding them, "there's nothing left to do here. I spend all my time counting down the days until the Mama decides to leave the remains of Go City and hunt me down. And then my only hobby is maintaining your grave," he paused to take a breath to calm the anger, "And now I'm sitting here talking to a hologram of my dead wife knowing that it's only a hologram."
"Ron?" she asked, cutting him off, "Do you remember when we first met?"
Ron nodded, "We were both six," he sighed and leaned against the hologram lightly, causing the image of Kim to ripple for the briefest of moments as it adjusted to his presence, "You were being picked on and with Rufus' help, I fought them off," his voice had risen in tone until it was drenched with pride, "You called me weird."
"And I like weird," Kim replied with a smile that crackled as her hologram flickered, "But even at that moment I knew you were destined for great things."
"I don't think you saw me alone on Earth after everyone else had died," he mocked sarcastically.
Kim laughed, a pleasant sound in the arid climate, "No, no I didn't," she smiled as her laugh transformed into a sigh, "but I knew that you would do something amazing."
"And that is?" Ron asked.
"Love me," Kim answered, "Love me like no one in the history of humanity has loved before."
Ron looked around at the dead Earth, "I don't think we have much competition."
Kim laughed again before playfully punching him in the arm, "Well not right now, but..." she trailed off as she flickered again, "When we were together..."
She trailed off as both Kim and Ron remembered their time together.
"It was good, wasn't it?" Ron asked.
"No," Kim answered as she kissed him on the cheek, "It was the best."
Kim's hologram flickered again, "Ron, it's time for me to go."
Ron looked up in shock, "Time? But it's only been fifteen minutes."
Kim shrugged and pointed at the amber orb hanging just above the horizon, "The lack of sun. I can't absorb enough sunlight to maintain a picture," she shrugged sadly, "I'm sorry."
Ron nodded as he rose to his feet, "Will I see you tomorrow?"
Kim's hologram shrugged and pointed towards a series of solar panels in the distance, "If it's not cloudy, I think I'll be here."
Ron smiled, "I don't think we've had to worry about that for roughly," he thought in his head, "10,000 years?"
Kim nodded as she flickered again and took on a grainy and transparent look, "12,647 years three months, two weeks and six days to be exact," she saw his look and smiled, "That was when the last bit of water disappeared. Mama had its fill."
Ron stood to leave as Kim also stood to her "feet" and brushed holographic clouds of dust from her pants.
"I've tapped into what little remains of any satellites overhead and I think the next chance you get it might be worth it to check out the moon."
Ron brushed the dust off his pants, "Why's that?"
Kim shrugged, "I don't know. Something just doesn't feel right about it."
Ron raised an eyebrow, "Feel?"
Kim laughed playfully, "Even an Artificial Intelligence of your wife still feels something."
Ron smiled as she flickered a final time before snuffing out of existence, leaving him standing all alone before Kim's grave, "Happy Anniversary Kim," he whispered as he let a tear course down his cheek.
A sympathetic cry drew Ron's gaze to his feet as he saw Rufus standing in front of him, with a piece of cheese in his tiny paws offered to Ron.
Ron smiled and lifted Rufus up, "And where did you get this little buddy?"
Rufus pointed at a tiny hole in the ground and Ron smiled, "You stockpiled this stuff and have been hiding this from the Mama for all this time?" he sniffed the cheese cautiously before asking, "how old is it?"
Rufus smiled and patted Ron good naturedly on the cheek. Ron had been around Rufus long enough to know that meant, Don't ask, just eat.
Ron took a hesitant bite of the cheese and nearly gagged but didn't out of fear of offending Rufus, "Kraft Cheese," he nodded and struggled to swallow the cheese, "Still good even after all these years," he thought for a moment before asking, "Did you save any twinkies?"
Disclaimer: Disney owns everything. And I own nothing. Actually with this economy that last statement is more accurate than I care to admit.
Author's Notes: First off, you guys are the greatest. I leave for almost a year and you guys not only welcome me back with open arms but with words of encouragement as well?
I'm not worthy to have fans like you.
Anyway enough kissing up to you, on with the notes.
One thing that always bugged me about the original version of this story was that not enough was explained about this place. This time around I wanted to explain from the get go why it was Ron was alone and how it all came to this.
So I did.
A Special thank you goes out to CajunBear73 (New story, new bear jokes), JCS1996 (This time it really ends), Sentinel103 (Why sir, me? Misdirection? I don't know what you speak of), Joe Stoppinghem (Double tapping is always good), Mr. Wizard (You haven't seen anything yet).
As always, leave a review and get a response.
Thank you all once again and I'll see you with the next chapter.
TRS
