Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.
Smells Like Teen Spirit
"Don't sound defensive," Kim told herself. "Admit I screwed up." She took a deep breath and glanced at Ron, sitting beside her in the back of the small, private aircraft. "Uh, Ron?"
"Yeah, KP? Something wrong?"
"Wrong? Why do you ask?"
"You're acting kind of not you. Not that there's anything wrong with you not being you, but I kind of prefer the you you."
"I messed up, and I don't like admitting I messed up."
"See, that's what I mean. Kim Possible doesn't mess up."
"I do, and I did. I... I should have told you something in Chile, maybe I should have told you earlier. It wasn't that I didn't trust you, see, I was..." Kim closed her mouth, realizing she was getting defensive.
After a couple seconds Ron asked, "So are you going to tell me now? Or you could do it with charades... No, bad idea. Everyone hates mimes. Even mimes hate mimes."
Kim giggled. "When you and Drakken were having your cross-Asia trip and Shego and I were looking for the two of you... Shego and I became sort of honorary sisters, and... You remember that, don't you?"
"Kim, we're on a plane flying to Canada 'cause you and Wade think she may be in some kind of trouble. I still don't get it, but, yeah, it's kind of impossible to forget."
"Well, while Shego and I were looking for you, we talked about our love lives and–"
"Our love lives, like you and me, or our like in you two were both talking?"
"Our like in I was saying how much I love you, and she was saying her love life was the pits, so I kind of set her up on a blind date."
Ron chuckled, "Who do you hate enough to set up on a date with Shego? Will Du?"
"Uh, Joe MacKenzie..."
"Janitor Joe? But..."
"Yes, and they, uh, really liked each other. And so, uh, when we saw them in Chile it was because, uh, they had gone there to be alone. Alone together. I should have trusted you, but I was worried that because Joe works for the Canadian government and Shego is a criminal it would look bad if... and I should have trusted you... And I feel terrible."
"Because Shego and Joe hit it off?"
"Were you listening to me? Because I didn't trust you enough to tell you. I should be honest with you!"
Ron suddenly felt nervous. "Does that, ah, go both ways?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Well... While we were in Chile, Drakken was worried about Shego quitting and he, um, went looking for her and, ah... Anyway, I didn't tell you."
"Drakken told you what he was doing?"
"He stayed in my room."
"He stayed in your room!"
"Well the resort was full!"
"You didn't tell me!"
"I didn't want a fight! So when he told me that Shego was there, I didn't want you to... You knew she was there!"
"Did you notice all the texting I was doing? I was trying to keep her away from any place you'd be so you wouldn't know she was there!"
The two stared at each other for a stunned moment, then started to laugh. Kim suddenly stopped, "You know what was so bad about it?"
"Besides us being idiots?"
"That last night? When you were worried about Joe, 'cause you said Shego was so dangerous, so you had us stay close?"
"Yeah?"
"I had other plans."
"Other plans?"
"We were going back to my room. I was going to 'accidentally' drop a towel over the video monitor, and I was going to show you how much I appreciated the ski trip."
Ron's jaw dropped. "How much you..."
"Yes." Kim's voice dropped to a throaty purr, "I really, really wanted to show you how much it meant."
"As in..."
"Yes."
"So if I hadn't said we needed..."
"I think it would have been romantic, our first time making love – at an expensive resort."
"Yeah, I... Maybe not, you'd have done it because I took you someplace expensive."
"Ron!" Kim flushed. "I wouldn't have done it because I felt I owed you!"
"No, but I might have worried I always needed to take you... I won't need to take you somewhere expensive again, will I?"
"Well, it would be nice someday. But, no, you don't have to... Maybe we'll even get a little private time in Canada, I don't know."
They spent much of the rest of the ride kissing.
The small number of searchers the evening of the day Ruth Pollet went missing had discovered nothing. She did not return from an unannounced trip during the night.
There were more than fifty people gathered at the Pollet ranch the next morning, prepared to start a more extensive search. One thing was discovered immediately, the dogs two others had brought to attempt tracking were no more use than Gracie Swift's dogs the previous day. It was a topic for debate, along with the suggestion of a supernatural spirit at work. Shego's theory of someone spraying some sort of dog repellant around had more popular support than ancient evil.
Shego got her first look at her prime suspect and had to tell herself that the fact he didn't look like a killer proved nothing. When the television crews talked with the neighbors of mass murderers they always said, "I can't believe he was a killer." The shaman didn't look like a killer.
Adam Walker's long hair, worn in two thick braids, was snow white under the battered Stetson. He wore them forward, covering some of the military insignia and patches from tribal conferences and Pow-wows in the United States that adorned his buckskin vest.
Shego had not shared her suspicions with anyone, but had asked Joe to introduce her to the old man.
"Ray says the crows told you there was a stranger with a fire spirit at our place."
Adam nodded 'yes'.
"Well, I don't know about the 'fire spirit' thing, but I brought Sabrina home to meet the folks. They'd been demanding to meet the woman I kept telling them was wonderful. Adam, Sabrina. Sabrina, Adam Walker."
The shaman squinted and slowly looked Shego up and down. "The crows were right. Fire spirit."
"Is that, like an astrology thing?" Shego asked. "What kind of a spirit is Joe?"
"Water spirit. Strong water spirit."
"Is that supposed to mean we're incompatible? He'll put me out?"
"This isn't an astrology thing. Lot of people don't have a spirit I can read – too weak. Maybe they have no spirit. Maybe I just can't read it. I'm not a high grade shaman or anything. Your spirit it strong. That's not astrology. I don't tell fortunes or find perfect matches. A fire spirit and water spirit could complement each other. You both have strengths where the other has weakness."
"Hear that," Joe laughed and gave Shego a small pat on the rear, "we're perfect for each other."
"I'm pretty sure that's not what he said," Shego told him. "And I don't have any weaknesses."
"Can I spend the next forty years or so testing that out?"
"Maybe. I'll get back to you after I see the size of the ring."
Gracie Swift was giving final instructions to the searchers, which included staying in groups of at least two, when a small plane flew overhead and suddenly two parachutes blossomed in the sky.
Bob Beauregard shielded his eyes from glare and looked upward, "Looks like that American girl... Possible, Kim Possible... Got no idea who he is."
"Well, if it's Kim Possible," Dell grunted, "she must have heard the criminal Shego is here. 'Course she's not authorized to make arrests in Canada, but we are."
The two Mounties casually moved in the direction of the green woman.
Joe and Shego headed toward the spot Kim and Ron would land. The Mounties followed, staying close enough to listen in on any conversation.
"Ron, Kim," Joe asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Sabrina called and–"
A Mountie forced himself into the conversation. "Sabrina?" demanded Dell, "This looks like that woman you've fought, Shego."
"Hey, I didn't ask you up here," Shego pointed out.
Kim addressed the Mountie, "My sister didn't ask me to come up, but it sounded like she might be in trouble and–"
"Your sister?"
"Adopted, honorary, whatever. We have each other's backs."
"She still looks like the woman... Are you real Kim Possible? You got some ID on you?"
"Sure, I–"
"We got a missing person to look for!" shouted Gracie. "Stop wasting time."
"No one looks more like Shego than Sabrina," Kim hurriedly whispered to the Mountie.
Gracie demanded at least one armed individual in each team, so Kim and Ron were split up. Shego offered her shotgun to Kim.
"No thanks. Not sure how to use it."
"Point it and pull the trigger, as much as I know. Joe and his parents insisted I–"
"So, what do his mom and dad think of you?"
"They seem okay with me. That Mountie suspects who I am, and Joe's dad thinks he may be right – but as long as I keep my nose clean while I'm here and give him another grandkid he's okay."
"You're pregnant?"
"No! Just... Joe and I are kind of kidding around about... I think we're kind of kidding... He's talking about asking me to marry him. I'm talking about saying yes."
Kim squealed and gave Shego a hug. "Yes!"
"Geez, Princess, you don't have to be so happy about it. It's not like you introduced the two of us or anything."
"What, I can't be happy for you?"
"Not until things are a bit more sure. I've got a Mountie who suspects he knows who I am, there's been at least one murder, and I'm pretty sure Mr. Suspicious has me pegged as his number one suspect."
Shego filled Kim in on what had happened, and shared her suspicions of the old shaman.
A distance from the two women Joe demanded, "What's wrong?"
Ron took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Don't know... I'm... Crazy scared..."
"You don't believe that Wendigo thing, do you? You and Kim have faced some incredible stuff."
"But I've never felt like this... I... Kim and I have... But this is giving me goose bumps. Every hair is... I just want to turn and run."
"Let's stop a second. Try and get a hold of yourself." Joe had not told Ron about the reaction of the dogs who had been brought in to try and pick up a scent, and wondered if he could have heard about it some other way. Not that it made sense. Ron and Kim had faced all sorts of dangers, but the young man claimed to have never experienced fear like this. And the human nose is incapable of sensing the range of odors a dog can smell. He had to believe Ron sensed something he could not understand, but the Canadian had no idea what it might be.
Joe finally told Ron to return to base, the Pollet home.
"But I want to help!"
"I know, but you must be sick. This'll be faster for me if I join another group. I know you don't want to hold me back... And I'm very worried about you too. Go back where you can call a doctor if you need to."
The morning search produced nothing.
When Shego heard of Ron's problems at noon she was tempted to make a sarcastic comment, but refrained. No point in annoying Kim, who had come to help her. And, like Joe, she knew Ron had faced greater dangers than whatever was going on here. "Hope you weren't kissing him on the flight up."
"Huh?"
"Ron. He's got to be sick. Hope for your sake he's not contagious."
Two professional guides arrived in the early afternoon. They roundly cursed the searchers for trampling any spoor that might have given a hint to whoever, or whatever, had taken Ruth Pollet. The two attempted to cover a wide circle, moving beyond the area already searched. They found small amounts of blood that less skilled trackers had missed, and prints that neither of the two could identify. By the time they found the signs, however, it was too late in the day to follow them into the wilds of scrub and trees where it appeared the tracks were headed.
All of the searchers looked at the sky, which threatened rain. But it would soon be too dark to follow the trail, and while none voiced the sentiment several of them were worried about running into whatever had killed Pete Sanders and his horse, and carried off Ruth Pollet.
"There," Shego whispered to Kim as all the searchers returned to the Pollet ranch.
"There what?"
"The old guy sitting on the tailgate? That's Adam, the shaman guy. Guy talking to him is Raymond – son-in-law."
"You really think he did it?"
Shego hesitated before admitting, "Less and less all the time. But I need a suspect. I mean, the older Mountie figures I did it, but I happen to know I didn't. Let me introduce you."
Kim and Shego headed directly toward the old man. Ron moved in Kim's direction at a more leisurely pace. And the Mounties just happened to casually stroll in Shego's direction.
"If she's really Kim Possible that can't be Shego," Beau whispered to Dell.
"Could be some actress Shego hired," Dell countered. "We don't know for sure that's Kim Possible."
Shego called, "Hey, would you do a reading on my friend?" as they neared the truck.
Adam rolled his eyes. "I don't do 'readings'. You have me confused with astrologers, or palm readers, or those who claim they read auras... Maybe it's a little like auras. Hell if I know what an aura is."
"You said I had a fire spirit."
"You do. Strong one. Strong ones are clear. Most people have weak..." He stared at Kim in amazement.
"Is something wrong?" Kim asked.
"Whole life, never saw a fire spirit as strong as hers," he told the redhead. "Now I've seen two. Can't believe it."
"Cupcake here is a fire spirit?"
"Heap big fire spirit."
"Adam," complained Raymond. "I wish you wouldn't talk like that."
"They're from south of the border. They think we all talk like that. Too much television and bad Western movies."
"Wait," demanded Shego. "What does it mean if she's a fire spirit and I'm a fire spirit?"
The shaman shrugged, "It's up to you. Spirit is part of what you are, but not all of what you are. Two strong fire spirits? Will your flames burn against the other or with the other? If together nothing can stop the two of you."
Shego noticed Ron approaching, "You said Joe and I had compatible spirits. What about Princess here and her boyfriend?" She jerked her head in the direction of the approaching youth.
Adam glanced in the direction indicated, he gave a startled look and stared hard, then his hand went to the shotgun beside him in the back of the pickup.
Ray quickly put his hand down on the gun, keeping Adam from picking it up. "What are you doing."
Ron missed the activity. "Hey, KP, Sh... Sabrina, Wassup?"
"What are you?" the shaman demanded.
"Uh, Ron Stoppable?"
"I didn't ask your name, I asked what you are."
Raymond warned his father-in-law, "I'm pretty sure none of us know what the hell you're talking about. I know I don't."
The old man pointed a finger... "This is... He... There's something odd about him."
Shego snerked, "I've thought that myself."
"Could you explain?" asked Kim.
"Let me study him for a minute," the old man requested.
"Study me?" Ron said nervously. "Can I keep my clothes on?"
"Please do," Shego ordered.
"There are two spirits within him," Adam finally said. "One is human, I can't read it, but it is there, the other so strong it obscures... Ever had a bite of something where the cayenne pepper is so strong you can't taste any other spice?"
Ron looked at Kim, "I'm still clueless."
"Hush," Kim warned Shego. She explained to Ron, "He's supposed to be able to read inner spirits, and says there's something unusual about yours."
"It isn't his," insisted Adam. "In him, but not his."
"The mystical monkey thing?" suggested Ron.
"I have no idea what you're talking about... A very old, and very powerful spirit dwells inside you. For a moment I thought you were the wihtikow... But this spirit dwells, it does not possess. Your spirit encompasses something larger than itself, you remain you. The wihtikow possesses, the first spirit is dead, and only the spirit of wihtikow remains."
"I wish you'd stop the wihtikow stuff," sighed Ray.
"I'd like to hear about it," Kim said. "I've seen some weird things and won't rule out anything automatically."
"Do you believe your friend has two spirits within him?"
"I... I think I understand. He told me some things about a trip he made to Japan."
"There are many spirits in the world, some strong and some weak. They can dwell in living creatures. They may dwell in places and things. The wihtikow has no home of its own. It dwells... No, it possesses other creatures. It is a liminal thing which–"
"What does liminal mean," demanded Raymond.
The old man grinned, "Remember that grad student from Ottawa University who came out to interview me years ago on our folklore? The cute one?"
"Yes."
"She explained liminal. Good word. Neither one thing or another, in between. Doorways are liminal space – you are neither inside nor outside. Dawn and dusk are liminal, it is neither day nor night. The wihtikow is neither strong nor weak. It is neither alive nor dead. It has no strength to take over a living spirit, but it may enter a creature dying of hunger. It can possess the body of a creature which dies of hunger as the original spirit departs. The creature's strength is magnified a hundred-fold, and its desire to feed as well."
"So, you're saying this wihtikow thing entered someone who was dying of hunger—"
"Not necessarily a person. Spirit has no size as we imagine size. It could enter a mosquito."
"It sure as hell was no mosquito that did what I saw to that body yesterday," Shego snarled.
"I said it multiplies the strength of the creature it possesses. But if you slap a strong mosquito you will crush it as surely as a normal mosquito."
"So, this thing can be killed, if it exists?"
"It exists," Adam asserted, then hesitated a moment. "Kill... Umm... You destroy the body it possesses, the spirit flees, wandering again until it finds another starving creature whose body it may possess. Because it is not alive as we know life it can not die as we know death."
"So, you're saying we can't kill the spirit thing, just mess up the physical body?"
"Look, I didn't major in wihtikow when I did my training. I got a C in spirit reading. I'm fluent in crow, speak passable fox, talk a little wolf and know a few words in bear – mostly curses. Wihtikow possession doesn't happen a lot. Old days, cycle of nature, things got killed before they could die of hunger, old and sick, or weak perished at jaws of some predator – which lost its life to some other predator when it got old and weak. Sometimes during the winter, if someone hadn't stored enough food, there'd be a starving human for the spirit to enter. That grad student… Cindi. Cindi was her name. She believes this is some legend to explain acts of cannibalism in times of famine. She doesn't believe the wihtikow exists."
"And your wihtikow could look like Ron here?" Shego asked. "I saw you move for that shotgun. You're saying we can't tell by looking?"
Adam sighed. "The creature it inhabits usually changes… Mutates! That's the word, mutates. The spirit mutates the body it possesses, whether deer, or fox, or wild cat, or human. It kills, it feeds, it changes. Some say it grows larger and larger until killed."
"We, uh, were talking about killing it before you got off on…" began Ron. "Well, any way to destroy that spirit thing?"
Adam nodded at the youth, "Excellent question from Ron Two-Spirits. The spirit can be destroyed," Adam told them firmly, as Raymond rolled his eyes. He patted his shotgun. "Loaded with rock salt. Primal element, it will destroy the spirit."
"And if it was a bear that killed Pete and carried off Ruth salt won't do a damn thing but annoy it," Ray scoffed.
"Bear would already be dead. Destroy the spirit animating the body and you don't worry about another possession."
"Piss off a bear and you're dead. You claim, if this thing exists, that blowing a big enough hole in the host body will end the problem," scoffed his son-in-law. He pointed at his shot-gun, "I'll stick with my load."
Fat drops of rain began to follow, along with the rumble of an approaching thunderstorm as the searchers headed home, wondering if they'd be able to continue the next day. Chores were finished hurriedly in the rain, slowed by both the weather and the unusual handicap of doing them while armed.
Space at the MacKenzie ranch was somewhat limited, and Joe's mother had some strong feelings about the sleeping arrangements. There was the good guest room, currently occupied by Shego and Joe, and a much smaller second guest room. Charlotte would not allow male and female high school seniors to occupy a bed. "Joe, you and Ron can use the small guest room. Kim and Sabrina can have the good room."
"How about I use the couch," suggested Joe, "it's probably more comfortable."
"Nonsense, the bed isn't that bad."
"I, uh, could take the couch," Ron offered. "Then Kim could have the bed all to herself and… You let Joe and, uh, 'Sabrina' sleep together?"
"We're adults, Stoppable," Shego reminded him. "An exalted status you and Princess here have not yet… Well, maybe she's earned it."
"Do you want me to call your parents and ask if it's all right for me to let you sleep together?" offered Joe's mother.
Kim and Ron looked at each other. "I'll sleep with my 'sister'," sighed Kim.
The storm hit with the expected fury and, while no one said it, all were certain it would destroy any chance of finding whatever had taken Ruth Pollet. They played card games and talked until time for bed.
"Sorry about keeping you and Joe separated tonight," Kim apologized. "Maybe absence will make the heart grow fonder."
"Very funny. Hopefully you and Doofus aren't planning to stay long… And, ah, thanks for coming to try and help."
"It's what sisters do."
"No, sisters fight over the same guy. Something we don't have to worry about."
Kim giggled then complimented, "You look good in the green flannel shirt and black jeans. Thinking of making it a standard uniform?"
"Don't know what Drakken would think of the change."
"I wasn't talking about new change of outfits for Drakken, wondering if you were considering hanging up the super-criminal outfit for something more domestic."
"I am not leaving crime for flannel and jeans… Do you really think I pull off the look?"
"Definitely," Kim assured her.
"No way you're sticking me out on a ranch. Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here… Joe has a place in Ottawa… He'd need… Got to figure out some pardon first, or a whole new identity."
"So, uh, you and Shego really, uh, like each other?" Ron asked nervously in the small room to which he and Joe had been exiled.
"She's really something. I owe Kim… I thought she was crazy when she called and suggested Shego and I have dinner, but… Owe Kim big time."
"And, uh, what was that story about the dogs they wanted to use in tracking again?"
"They went crazy, like they were afraid of whatever they smelled."
"Are you sure it was smell?"
"What do you mean?"
"I was more afraid than I've ever been in my life today."
"You had to be sick."
"I didn't feel sick, just afraid. Afraid when I moved in the direction the trackers said the traces pointed. When I moved in the opposite direction I felt fine."
"Okay, I can't explain that."
"Well, that old man – Adam – maybe he's right about something out there."
"Clearly something is out there, but a spirit taking over something? That's crazy."
Ron didn't think it crazy. Adam had recognized the monkey spirit within him. Ron didn't understand it himself, but if he could have that spirit within him then it was possible for some other spirit to possess another creature. And if Adam was right, and Ron suspected he was, it meant Ron might be able to locate the creature… Locate the creature, but it would be painful, and leave Ron unable to fight.
